Tag Archives: Meat

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150 million wieners!

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Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Hot dogs, apple pie and antibiotics.This Fourth of July, declare your independence! Sign our pledge, and join tens of thousands of consumers not buying meat from animals routinely fed antibiotics.Sign pledge!

Did you pledge yet?

July 4th is just two days away, and you can still join tens of thousands of Americans pledging their independence this holiday from meat raised on drugs.

Why is this pledge so important? The Fourth of July holiday is one of the biggest weekends for meat sales (yes, 150 million wieners), and your pledge shows industry that consumers don’t want products from animals routinely fed antibiotics.

Take the pledge now, and declare your independence from antibiotics this Fourth of July!

You know enough not to take antibiotics everyday just to keep from getting sick, since it weakens their effectiveness for when you really need them. But most conventional beef, poultry and pork sold in our grocery stores come from animals routinely fed antibiotics to promote their growth or so they can survive in filthy feedlots, rather than just giving them medicine when they are sick.

All this overuse on livestock is contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’ in both animals and people. Unless we stop this practice, there may be a day when our antibiotics no longer work.

Congress has a bill before that would prevent routine dosing, reserving the drugs for when animals are sick. But ultimately, consumers like you can change the tide by not buying these products. And what better day to declare our independence than the Fourth of July?

Pledge this July 4th, and be part of the movement to save our antibiotics!

Thank you for pledging with us this Independence Day. And have a great holiday weekend.

Meg Bohne, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

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This is crazy, Washington!

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Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Here’s TJ’s number, call them maybe?

Their customers are calling, but Trader Joe’s still refuses to meet with us to discuss ending the sale of meat raised on antibiotics. The grocer says it listens to its customers, so we’re ramping up more calls. Can you call them, maybe?

Take action

 

To save our antibiotics, we can’t just wait for Congress to act. We have to go directly to grocery chains selling antibiotic-raised meat and get them to stop.

So we targeted Trader Joe’s, one of the nation’s most progressive grocers, to lead the way in the fight to save our antibiotics.

But after presenting a half-million of your signatures, sending thousands of emails, postcards and fliers – and running full-page ads in the hometown newspapers where they’re headquartered – Trader Joe’s management still refuses to sit down and talk with us about stopping the sale of this meat.

This is crazy! Now we need a little help from you to convince them.

Make a toll-free call to company headquarters today, and ask them to stop selling meat raised on drugs!

Trader Joe’s prides itself on listening to its customers. Since the company is headquartered in California, we recently put ads in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle asking customers to call company execs and ask them to end the sale of antibiotic-raised beef, poultry and pork. The execs got a LOT of calls!

What did Trader Joe’s do? They dug in even deeper, telling callers they will keep selling meat raised on antibiotics. Pretty unbelievable for a company that claims to listen to its customers. The Pacific-Northwest is a major market for Trader Joes. Your call may be the tipping point.

We’re not giving up until they do. Help us keep the pressure on by making your own quick phone call — and let us know what the grocer tells you.

We’re tackling the overuse of antibiotics in our food animals on every front – including testing meat for drug-resistant superbugs, lobbying in Congress, and pushing industry and the marketplace to stop this risky practice. Join us in making a safer future for your family by making a call now.

Sincerely, Jean Halloran, NotInMyFood.org, a project of Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

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BREAKING NEWS: Bugs in your food


Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports finds superbugs in turkeyOur new study found more evidence that raising food animals on antibiotics can impact the effectiveness of our life-saving drugs. If you want antibiotics to work when you need them, tell Congress to stop the mass feeding of drugs to animals.

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Consumer Reports’ latest investigation confirms that all those antibiotics being fed to our food animals do matter.

Released today, our study found meat from conventionally raised turkeys – which can be routinely fed antibiotics –had bacteria resistant to more drugs than birds raised without antibiotics. Since one way superbugs can spread to people is through raw meat, it’s crucial you know these findings.

It’s important to cook turkey thoroughly, and we have tips to help you avoid antibiotic-raised meat. But just avoiding the problem isn’t the solution. Industrial food producers must stop playing this dangerous game with our life-saving drugs – and a bill has been introduced to do just that!

Email Congress to stop mass feeding of antibiotics to food animals, and check out our new investigation and tips.

Eighty percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used by beef, pork and poultry producers so healthy animals can plump up faster and tolerate crowded, unsanitary conditions. This daily use of antibiotics kills off those bacteria vulnerable to drugs, leaving immune ‘superbugs’ to flourish and spread to animals, the environment, and eventually, us.

We’re tackling this problem from every angle. Consumer Reports is testing food for these bacteria, and making sure labels mean what they say so you can shop smart. We’re backing a bill in Congress to end the routine use of antibiotics on food animals. It would preserve our antibiotics by phasing out mass-feeding of drugs to food animals, restricting their use to sick animals.

And we’re on the ground asking Trader Joe’s – one of the nation’s most progressive grocers that has already demonstrated care for customers’ health on other issues – to lead the way and stop selling meat raised on drugs.

Tell Congress to save our antibiotics for when we need them. Get this bill moving.

Ask your friends and family to join you in taking action – this is a problem we can fix if we all demand action.

Sincerely, Jean Halloran, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

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Trader Joe’s sells meat fed with drugs …Change.org


Trader Joe’s: Stop selling meat fed with drugs!                       
      Sign Melissa’s Petition

 

Trader Joe’s: Stop selling meat fed with drugs!

Started by: Melissa Lee

The night we rushed my 10-month-old daughter Ruby to the hospital is a night I will never forget, especially the terror of not knowing what was making her sick.  It took doctors a very long week to figure out that it was Salmonella, and another two months for us to determine that it came from some ground turkey we ate.

Ruby spent 7 days in the hospital, one of 136 victims of a Salmonella outbreak last summer that led to a massive ground turkey recall.  To make matters worse, that strain of Salmonella was resistant to several kinds of antibiotics, which made it more difficult to treat.

That’s why I’m urging you to sign my petition to Trader Joe’s asking them to sell only meat raised without antibiotics.

Like over 86% of Americans, I want to buy meat raised without antibiotics at my local grocery store. Big supermarket chains can play a critical role in changing the food system.

Trader Joe’s is a progressive grocery store with high standards for the food they sell (and is not where the meat came from that made Ruby sick).   But in my community, many people shop at Trader Joe’s for products that are good for their health and good for the environment. Help me tell my story to Trader Joe’s, and encourage them to sell only meat raised without antibiotics.

I’m grateful every day that the doctors saved Ruby’s life, but we can’t take for granted the antibiotics that allow us to successfully combat serious infections.

80% of the antibiotics sold in the US are going to farm animals–used to make them grow faster and prevent disease in crowded, unsanitary conditions. In such an environment, “superbugs” can develop– and they can get into our food, as Ruby found out.

Whole Foods has already made the commitment to only selling meat raised without antibiotics.  We need more grocery stores to step up to the plate.

Tell Trader Joe’s to be a leader in saving our antibiotics and making food safer.