I seldom read these kinds of articles because 1) they raise my blood pressure and if I want to raise my blood pressure I prefer to drink a good bourbon, and 2) the only thing that drives me crazier (and driving me crazier is a very short trip in any event) than insanity is stupidity.
As a wise man once said, "truth is much stranger than fiction".
The following are two excellent examples of that adage.
It is no secret I think open air shrimp farming is a dinosaur. And I suspect that those individuals invested in open air shrimp farming are just never going to accept or perhaps cannot afford to accept or perhaps do not want to accept that premise. Forget the environmental damage they wreak, just from a disease and pollution and food safety perspective they have outlived their usefulness, if they ever had any.
(FYI - I think raising fish in net pens, using long lines, or drift nets, bottom trawling, and basically most forms of killing (euphemistically called "harvesting") sea life are dinosaurs, and are basically doomed to extinction either through financial failures or eventually legislation from a growing informed populace who sooner or later is going to wise up and realize we are killing the planet's oceans and our children along with it. (See second article below)
In any case this is the first article from "Shrimp News" I read this morning.ThailandCP Foods Shrimp Division Faces $30 Million LossBualuang Securities, a financial services and brokerage company in Thailand, predicts that Charoen Pokphand Foods’ shrimp division will post a $30.8 million operating loss for the first quarter of 2014, a 95% greater loss than in the first quarter 2013, but a 12 percent improvement over the fourth quarter of 2013. Charoen Pokphand Foods is one of the largest shrimp farming companies in Thailand.But, the securities firm says CPF’s shrimp division will break even in the first half of 2014, as it shifts its business to Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
(My comments: "And do they really think by shifting their production to Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia they are going to avoid EMS,white spot, runt deformity syndrome, pollution, use of carcinogenic preservatives, and so forth and so on? This is getting silly". )
The headline and commentary below are also mine, the article from "Shrimp News" is posted verbatim. This just scares the "hell" out of me.
Would you feed this to your kids?
(See article below)
And people wonder why cancer rates continue to soar? And why our food tastes like crap? And why our bodies continue to develop strange ailments?
This is just plain stupid but hey, this again demonstrates the power of lobbyists who can buy anything they want from "BIG GOVERNMENT".
Aside from common sense which should tell you radiating food is "NOT" a good idea there are a hundred or more studies that warn against ingesting any type of radiated product or substance.
ANOTHER SIGN OF THE DUMBING DOWN AND FRANKLY "KILLING OF AMERICANS".
But the FDA does not think "Avastin" can be should be approved for use for metastatic breast cancer patients like Lori.
Mark Twain said it best, "we have the best government money can buy".
April 16, 2014
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 United States
Washington, DC—FDA Approves Radiation of Crustaceans
In the first week of April 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)approved the radiation of crustaceans—shrimp, crab and lobster—to control pathogens and extend shelf life. As part of the approval, FDA says radiated crustaceans must carry the bright green radura symbol, the international symbol for radiation. This is generally sufficient to frighten consumers out of their wits, so the symbol and radiation are not widely used in foods where they have been approved. For example, radiation has been approved for oysters, clams, mussels and scallops, but the widespread use by the oyster industry of other purification techniques—including pressure treatment to control Vibrios—has meant radiation has not been widely adopted.
The new rule covers raw, frozen, cooked, partially cooked, shelled, dried and ready-to-cook crustaceans processed with spices or small amounts of other food ingredients.
FDA said: “At the maximum permitted dose this new use of ionizing radiation will reduce, but not entirely eliminate, the number of pathogenic microorganisms in or on crustaceans. The maximum dosage of radiation approved is capable of reducing a number of pathogens that may be found in crustaceans, including Listeria, Vibrio, and E. coli. Radiation is not a substitute for proper food-handling practices; therefore crustaceans treated with ionizing radiation must be stored, handled, and cooked in the same way as non-radiated foods.”
“We require that radiated foods bear the international symbol for radiation (radura) and carry the statement “Treated with Radiation” or “Treated by Radiation” on the food label.”
“For foods not in package form, the logo and phrase must be displayed to the purchaser with either the labeling of the bulk container plainly in view or a counter sign, car, or other appropriate device bearing the information that the product has been treated with radiation. We do not require that multi-ingredient foods that contain ingredients that have been radiated (e.g., spices) be labeled if the food itself has not been radiated, nor do we require labeling of radiated food served in restaurants.”
Because there is no requirement for labeling radiated food in restaurants, this represents a potential avenue for more usage of radiation. However, anecdotally we have heard that some companies think radiation may compromise quality in crabmeat.
Also the process can be costly. A company that radiates ground beef was not able to stay in business due to the high costs—about 8 cents a pound—and consumer resistance.
The petition to the FDA to approve irradiation of crustaceans was initiated by the National Fisheries Institute, which also got FDA to approve radiation of molluscan shellfish.
There is a radiation facility in the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi, USA, airport that is used by Crystal Seas Oysters, which fishes, processes and markets oysters, to produce live, in-shell, radiated oysters. Information: Crystal Seas Oysters, P.O. Box 717, 166 W. North Street, Pass Christian, Mississippi 39571, USA (phone 1-228-452-2722, fax 1-228-452-0801, webpagehttp://www.
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