Tag Archives: milk

Idaho, U.S.

Hunger Games: Idaho to build largest Dairy research center in the U.S.! Another White Elephant?

11 February 2023 (11:09-UTC-07 Tango 06) 22 Bahman 1401/20 Rajab 1444/21 Jia-Yin 4721/11 февраля 2023 года

“We are building the nation’s largest research dairy in Rupert, Idaho. That doesn’t happen if we don’t have dairy processors come to the table and say, ‘We are going to support the producer community and put money toward this project.”-Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association

It is set to begin dairy ‘research’ in 2024, the University of Idaho’s taxpayer and food industry funded Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE, part of a larger CAFE Discovery Center): “Collectively, we can move mountains. From the Idaho Legislature to Redox and others in agriculture, it truly is a remarkable partnership that will pay widespread dividends.”–Michael Parrella, Dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, 07FEB2023

The new CAFE is being funded by a combination of Idaho taxes and food industry donations.  The latest donation came from an Idaho company called Redox Bio-Nutrients, a half-million dollars! The CAFE is expected to cost at least $45-million to complete (keep in mind that the cost keeps going up, in 2022 one report said $22-million), and supposedly will be the largest dairy research center in the United States!

Redox Bio-Nutrients is a 30 years old company specializing in providing farmers with “with high-quality products that help growers efficiently and sustainably produce food.”

In May 2022, controversial (see below) dairy products maker Chobani donated $1-million to the CAFE.

According to a 2018 Farm Bureau report, even before the CAFE project began the Idaho Dairymen’s Association committed $2-million to the project, and Idaho state taxpayers were forced to fund at least $15-million!

In 2022, the CAFE Discovery Center Feasibility Study was published, revealing that one of the economic motivations for the larger CAFE Discovery Center is actually tourism, yet even with that it will not be a money maker, requiring yearly estimated funding to the tune of at least $260-thousand: “Further more, the pro forma assumes that all exhibit costs will be borne by sponsoring organizations in exchange for brand awareness. All this is feasible but will require a concerted capital campaign among Magic Valley area agri-businesses.”

But wait, there is more!  The University of Idaho claims its new multi-million dollar dairy research center isn’t about solving any dairy shortages, but rather solving the ‘problem’ of a glut of dairy products!  The federally mandated university says that most of the country’s dairy production is now concentrated in just two states; overpopulated California, and sparsely populated Idaho, and even so dairy output has skyrocketed with fewer cows: “The dairy industry currently produces 59 percent more milk with 64 percent fewer cows since 1944….  ….there has been a movement of dairy cows to the western United States with the greatest increases occurring in California and Idaho.”

In 1889, the University of Idaho was directly created by a federal ‘land-grant’, originally to act specifically as an agricultural research facility for the U.S., but in recent decades has become a ‘space-grant’ college as well.

Hunger Games/Operation Jupiter: WHY IS THE U.S. MILITARY SO INTENT ON PROTECTING BATS, GLOBALLY?

Borderland Hunger Games January 2023: U.S. CITIZENS GO HUNGRY WHILE MIGRANTS GET FIRST DIBS?

Hunger Games January 2023:  ‘Land Grant’ UNIVERSITY of IDAHO OFFERS FOOD PRESERVATION TIPS, FOR A PRICE, WHILE OTHER UNIVERSITIES, and Social Media, OFFER THE SAME ADVICE FOR FREE!

My Immigrant Idaho September 2021: Dairy producer CHOBANI TO HIRE AFGHAN REFUGEES, PAR FOR THE COURSE FOR BIDEN, AND A TURKISH OWNED COMPANY!

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Dairy company continues to produce products with toxins, despite repeated fines

“A stained history means the company has problems in its professional ethics, so we shouldn’t trust it anymore.”-Fang Zhouzi, blogger

Milk products containing aflatoxin continue to be found on store shelves, despite the company’s claim that they destroyed all their tainted dairy products.

Aflatoxin builds up in your body and causes liver cancer, it can not be eliminated by pasteurizing!  It can be the result of cattle feed that’s been stored for too long.

The company involved is Mengniu Group, in China. It has a history of producing contaminated dairy products. In 2009 the company was involved with the melamine contamination incident (melamine is used mainly in construction, but it turns out that dairy companies have been using it to artificially increase their products’ protein levels. It was discovered that in the U.S. the FDA had no standards for melamine used in food).

“If the company carried out checks and didn’t find a problem, then their case is suspect.”-Wang Dingmian, Guangzhou Dairy Association

Over the past weekend, several Chinese customers were suspicious of the milk they bought and had it tested. It all turned out to be contaminated with aflatoxin.  This happened after the Mengniu Group said they destroyed all tainted dairy products.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Powdered milk contaminated with radiation!

Japanese powdered milk maker Meiji says they will replace 400,000 cans of their product, after it was found contaminated with cesium.

The levels are below safe limits but the company says it’s better to be safe than sorry.  The powdered milk was produced from March 14 to 20. The base powder used was made before 11 March 2011.

Meiji did not voluntarily test their product, nor was it government officials, it was a consumer group who forced the testing.  Meiji officials are now trying to figure out how their product got contaminated.  The company has factories all over Japan, from Hokkaido down to Tokyo.  This is another indication how much the radiation from Fukushima Daiichi has spread.

Business/Economics, International, Opinion

Global Class war: Denmark & Hungary impose taxes on Fat and Potato Chips

Under the guise of forcing people to eat “healthy”, the governments of Denmark and Hungary have imposed the world’s first taxes targeting specific foods.  Of course those foods are the most affordable for the growing number of people with less and less income.

Hungary has imposed a potato chip snack tax. Snack chips (called crisps, in Europe) will be taxed at about U.S.$1 per kilogram (2.2 pounds), which could add 10 to 20 cents per bag of chips.  The tax includes other items like sugary drinks, snack cakes, salty snacks, and even food flavorings!

Denmark has imposed a U.S.$3 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) tax on the saturated fat content of food.  The main targets of the fat tax are milk, butter and cheese.

Here’s the problem with the logic of the governments’ reasons for taxing food that is fast becoming the only food people can afford: Putting a tax on food does not make people eat healthy!  The taxes imposed by Denmark and Hungary are not enough to force people to buy much more expensive health food. In the case of Denmark, they’re taxing the main staples of European diets; milk,butter and cheese! Rather, I think those governments are trying to capitalize on the fact that more and more people will be buying the “less healthy” food, because they can’t afford anything else!

Read why the Danish fat tax is only about money (clue: the Danes are not fat)!

International

Australian study says hypoallergenic baby formula doesn’t work

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Epidemiology reports a study done by Australian researchers, into the effects of hypoallergenic whey based infant formula.

620 babies were divided into three groups. One group got the whey formula, another group got cow’s milk, and the third got soy milk.

Two years later the babies were checked.  Surprise!  More than half the 620 babies developed allergies regardless of what type of formula, or milk they drank.

Further more, when researchers looked at just the babies who drank the hypoallergenic whey formula, they discovered that the incident rate for developing allergies, was no different than for the cow’s milk or soy milk.