"Hot" Beef??

The Queen of Green is on the Lookout For ‘HOT’ Beef

Holy cow, known as an expression of surprise, has taken on a frightening twist in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. In an article recently published by two of Japan’s news services, it has been discovered that at least 1300 cows contaminated with radioactive cesium were shipped, slaughtered, and sold to unsuspecting consumers in 45 of Japan’s 47 prefectures (a prefecture is what we call a ‘state’). Remember when Mad Cow Disease had everyone afraid of eating hamburger…bite into the wrong patty and you were doomed to the neurological killer disease? Now the Japanese are facing a far worse situation. Cooking meat does not neutralize the radiation and radioactive cesium has a half life of 30 years making “hot” beef REALLY “hot” beef. Levels in meats tested show a cesium levels at 500 times what the Japanese government is considering safe.

Why should we in America care about this environmental tragedy taking place in Japan? The better question is….do you know where “your” beef is coming from?

You would think that Japan is well aware of the dangers of radioactive fallout from the lesson learned at Chernobyl. Radiation falls from the sky and gets into the grass…the hay…the straw. The animals eat this straw contaminated with mega doses of Cesium 137 which goes into every cell of their bodies, especially the meat and bone. Eat the beef and you eat the Cesium 137, but the Japanese government knows this so what’s the problem??

A great deal of contaminated beef was sold to processors who turned it into food for children’s school lunches. Yes, I said children…and yes, I said school lunches. One single contaminated cow was traced to 23,000 servings within school lunches served in 52 schools in Japan. Is this the only place the beef has been sent to? Could your mystery meat burger or cup of chili at your favorite fast food restaurant contain deadly Cesium 137?

Stay tuned…the Queen of Green is on the case to find out how “Hot” Beef sold in America really is!

Website for 3000 contaminated cows. http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110728/wl_asia_afp/japandisasternuclearaccidentfoodbeef
Website for the school lunches with cesium 137 http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/contaminated-beef-served-in-gifu-school-lunches

The "Stinchless"Truth: Do you know what is lurking in your candy?

Does the thought of eating bugs sound appetizing to you? The thought of it actually makes me a bit queasy. Sadly, you may be eating bugs more often than you thought!

The last time you went to the movies and grabbed a box of Nestle’s Raisinettes, I bet you didn’t know you were eating “bug juice” that is excreted from the rear end of a beetle like bug. Ewe!! Say what?

That shiny coating on most candy is called Shellac. This chemical is produced by the female lac bug as it forms sheltering tunnels as it travels along the outside of trees. The insect sucks the sap off the trees and excretes it almost constantly. Are you getting hungry? The thought of seeing these bugs expel this nastiness makes me want to gag, but the thought of eating it, makes me want to hurl!

The raw shellac which contains lac bug parts and bark shavings is scraped off of the trees. It is then processed for industrial use by placing it into canvas tubes and heating it over an open flame. After the Shellac has liquefied the bug parts and bark seep out of the canvas leaving thick and sticky Shellac which is then dried into a thin sheet and broken up into flakes. It is now ready to be bagged and sold. The end-user uses denatured alcohol to dissolve the broken pieces and make liquid shellac.

If the word Shellac sounds familiar to you, I bet it is because you have seen it sold at your local home improvement store. It is the same chemical ingredient used to seal and varnish hardwood floors. It can be found in many products including pharmaceutical drugs including children’s medicines, shampoos, lipsticks, hairspray, chewing gum, etc.

The word “Shellac” is most commonly listed on food packages as either confectioner’s glaze or resinous glaze. It can be found in the following candies.
Hershey’s Whopper’s Malted Milk Balls™
• Hershey’s Milk Duds™
• Nestle’s Raisinettes™
• Nestle’s Goober’s™
• Tootsie Roll Industry’s Junior Mints™ (NOT Tootsie Rolls)
• Tootsie Roll Industry’s Sugar Babies™
• Jelly Belly™ jelly beans, mint crèmes
• Godiva’s™ Dark Chocolate Almond Bar; Dark Chocolate Cherries; Milk Chocolate Cashews; White Chocolate Pearls; Milk Chocolate Pearls.
• Gertrude Hawk’s™ chocolate-covered nuts and raisins; cupcake sprinkles; decorative cake pieces
• Russell Stover’s™ jelly beans

If you think you are safe by avoiding this type of junk food—think again. Have you ever wondered what made that shiny red apple look so polished? Sadly, most conventional fruit and vegetables are coated with Shellac. It helps extend their shelf life and the shininess of the produce appeals to the consumer making you want to buy it.

The next time you are in the mood for candy or for an apple, reach for those that have not been coated with “beetle butt juice.” One more reason to shop organic—you will not find any wax coatings on organic fruits or vegetables.

The FDA has listed shellac as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for human consumption. Anything I put into my body better not be listed with a “Generally…” I am not willing to wait and see if the food I am consuming is going to be “generally” safe. After all, how healthy could mixing the shellac in denatured alcohol be for you? One look at the MSDS sheet for denatured alcohol will have you shaking your head! Take a look:

Emergency Overview
--------------------------
POISON! DANGER! VAPOR HARMFUL. MAY BE FATAL OR CAUSE BLINDNESS IF SWALLOWED. CANNOT BE MADE NONPOISONOUS. HARMFUL IF INHALED OR ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN. FLAMMABLE LIQUID AND VAPOR. AFFECTS CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. CAUSES IRRITATION TO SKIN, EYES AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. MAY AFFECT LIVER, BLOOD, KIDNEYS, GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT AND REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM.
http://www.hvchemical.com/msds/deal.htm

Also, keep in mind that it takes roughly 100,000 of those lac bugs to make 500 g of shellac flakes. In perspective this means every time you pop one of those candies into your mouth, you are actually eating parts from thousands of beetles. Who is hungry now?

Citrusy Secrets: The Truth About Orange Juice

I am about to reveal the shocking truth about orange juice--even the so called orange juice that claims to be 100% pure, and not from concentrate! Picture the well known national commercial that depicts orange juice being so fresh that it shows a picture of a big juicy orange with a straw stuck through it. Oh, how I wish this was true!

The Queen of Green checked into exactly how commercial orange juice is made and was shocked at what she learned.

First, the oranges are squeezed and stored in big vats. In order to extend the shelf life of these oranges, the oxygen is removed from them. Not only does the process takes out the oxygen, but it also removes all the natural flavors from the oranges!

By now, you must be thinking, if the oranges have absolutely no natural citrus taste, how then does this glass of orange juice taste so darn good? To answer your question—these orange juice manufactures hire flavor and fragrance companies to artificially re-create the taste of oranges. How crazy is that?

These are the same companies that make perfume for Dior! These “flavor packs” are the key ingredient in orange juices, and it is what gives some brands sweeter taste versus other brands a more mellow taste. Since these “flavor packs” are made from orange by-products, you will not find them listed on the ingredient panel!

Drinking chemically altered orange juice does not sound appealing to me nor do I think that drinking a glass full of chemicals would be good for my health!

Food allergies are at an all-time high. It would only make since that the introduction of these chemically altered foods/beverages is our body's way of rejecting these foreign invaders that we want to believe is food.

These corporations may be able to trick our taste buds, but our bodies know what “real” food is! We must go back to eating the way inwhich nature intended—naturally. Now, go dust off your juicer and juice you some fresh pure orange juice!

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/100-percent-orange-juice-artificial_n_913395.html?ref=fb&src=sp