Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) – The average price for all types of ground beef per pound hit its all-time high -- $3.884 per pound -- in the United States in July, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That was up from $3.880 per pound in June. A year ago, in July 2013, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $3.459 per pound. Since then, the average price for a pound of ground beef has gone up 42.1 cents--or about 12 percent. Five years ago, in July 2009, the average price for a pound of...

Dozens of mothers staged a nurse-in at an Oregon restaurant in protest on Sunday after a manager asked one woman to cover up while she nursed her baby. Erin Klein said a manager at the Ram Restaurant in Happy Valley asked her to cover up as she nursed her 11-month-old, because other customers had apparently complained....

One in seven Americans – more than 46 million people, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors – rely on food pantries and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families, according to a new study from Feeding America, a provider of charitable food assistance to low-income Americans. In what Feeding America says is “the largest and most comprehensive study of people seeking food assistance in the United States ever conducted,” more than 60,000 people confidentially answered questions about their personal circumstances. The study represents findings from 200 Feeding America food banks, which annually provide more than 3...

It sounds like science fiction, but it seems that bacteria within us - which outnumber our own cells about 100-fold - may very well be affecting both our cravings and moods to get us to eat what they want, and often are driving us toward obesity.

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

For San Franciscans who've been trying to eat healthfully, your efforts are being recognized. The city earned the top spot in a ranking of the healthiest eating locales in America. Yummly data scientists analyzed the 2013 culinary search habits of more than 100 million people. They computed "healthy eating scores" for the 25 most populous U.S. cities based on the nutrition in recipes residents searched. San Franciscans aren't big on meat of any kind. Our residents searched for recipes with meat substitutes, like tofu, more than any other city. San Francisco was second to last in searches for poultry or...

There may be something extra lurking in your morning cup of joe, and it’s not fairy dust. A new report reveals that due to recent coffee shortages, producers may be turning to finely ground fillers such as wood, husks, whole coffee berries, and even clumps of earth to compensate for the lost beans. Once roasted and ground, these fillers resemble coffee, which makes it difficult to visually confirm a coffee blend’s contents. Even more troubling, ”normal people can’t taste [the difference],” research team leader Suzana Lucy Nixdorf told us via email. Other common filler ingredients (detailed in the graphic below)...

The EU plans to hold talks with countries such as Brazil and Chile to dissuade them from stepping in to replace Europe’s banned agricultural exports to Russia, senior officials said on Monday. Since Russia banned food imports from the EU and the US last week in a response to sanctions, Moscow has been courting Latin America for alternative supplies. Several countries and trade groups in South America have said that Moscow’s measures could offer them a lucrative windfall. Such excitement in the agricultural powerhouses of Latin America has triggered concern in Brussels. “We will be talking to the countries that...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

Facing Consumer Pressure, More Firms Are Jettisoning GMOs From Their Foods Two years ago, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. initiated a plan to eliminate genetically modified ingredients from its ice cream, an effort to address a nascent consumer backlash and to fulfill its own environmental goals.This fall, nearly a year behind schedule, it expects to finish phase one, affecting its flavorful "chunks and swirls" like cookie dough and caramel. The only part left to convert: the milk that makes ice cream itself. Thanks to the complexities of sourcing milk deemed free of genetically modified material, that could take five to...

Russia’s ban on many western food products presents a massive opportunity for meat and grain exports from Brazil and a smaller one for its Latin American neighbors. Around 90 new meat plants in Brazil were immediately approved to export beef, chicken and pork to Russia and the South American nation is already working to increase its exports of corn and soybeans sales to Russian buyers, Brazil’s secretary of agricultural policy, Seneri Paludo, said on Thursday. Brazil’s enthusiasm for Russia comes after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. “Russia has huge potential as a...

Russia has banned fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the US, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway. Dmitry Medvedev said the ban was effective immediately and would last for one year. The agriculture minister, Nikolai Fyodorov, said on Thursday that greater quantities of Brazilian meat and New Zealand cheese would be imported to offset the newly prohibited items. He added Moscow was in talks with Belarus and Kazakhstan to prevent the banned western foodstuffs being exported to Russia from the two countries. The Kremlin's move comes in response to the grounding of the budget airline subsidiary...

(CNSNews.com) - When asked if marijuana-infused food products should require federal labeling, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said consumers want accurate information “to make smart choices”. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t enforce federal food safety standards on marijuana-infused food products that are available in the few states where marijuana has been legalized.During a conference call with lawmakers on FDA food labeling on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked: “Given that the FDA currently doesn’t enforce any federal food safety standards on marijuana-infused foods and with a lot of states obviously changing their marijuana laws  -do you think they should require nutritional...

A pizza vending machine takes convenience food to a whole new level, delivering fresh pies to customers in just three minutes 24/7. The Let's Pizza unit invented by Claudio Torghele, an entrepreneur from Rovereto, Italy, mixes flour and water together and presses the dough flat to create a 10.5 inch base. Desired toppings are then added and the meal is flash-cooked in a high temperature infrared oven at 380 degrees Celsius. While the baking process is underway, a takeaway box is prepared. The finished pie is then placed in the cardboard container and delivered through a slot. As they wait...

Conakry — Medical teams struggling to curb Ebola in West Africa have been discouraging bush meat consumption, believed to have caused the outbreak, but some rural communities dependent on the meat for protein are determined to continue their traditional hunting practices. While meat from wild animals such as fruit bats, rodents and forest antelopes have largely disappeared from market stalls in main towns like Guéckédou (in southern Guinea and the epicentre of the disease) or the capital Conakry following campaigns to avoid contamination, it is still being eaten in remote villages despite the risks. "Life is not easy here in...

Dish named for China’s capital has its origins in Nanjing, hundreds of kilometres to the south.Beijing: Where does Peking Duck come from? It is a trick question: the dish named for China’s capital has its origins in Nanjing, hundreds of kilometres to the south. The tidbit is one of the revelations in a museum opened earlier this month to mark the 150th anniversary of the Quanjude restaurant, now the seven-storey flagship of a chain with franchises as far away as Australia. Statues of roasters, photos of officials dining and menus going back 100 years trace the duck’s route from humble...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

The food nazi with the big *** tells the children what they must eat. Enjoy the mocking - graphics and limerick

Moscow is preparing a bill to prevent Russian troops from posting selfies and other photographs on social media sites, according to July 29 reports. The proposed legislation came after soldiers published images on social media sites with captions saying they had been firing artillery into Ukraine. “We shelled Ukraine all night long,” Russian soldier Vadim Grigoryev wrote beneath a picture of weaponry he published last week on Vkontakte, Russia’s most popular social media network.

American diets are being bombarded with genetically modified foods. Big seed companies initiate it. Big government enables it. Big food business loves it. But Americans are the ones paying the price through their pocketbook and especially their health. And worst of all, as the old song goes, it may be "killing you softly." For those who may be unaware, genetically modified plants are grown from genetically modified or engineered seeds, which are created to resist insecticides and herbicides so that crops can be grown to withstand a weed-killing pesticide or integrate a bacterial toxin that can ward off pests....