Posted on 12/10/2024 6:26:14 PM PST by Miami Rebel
The Archer Daniels Midland wet mill on the outskirts of Decatur, Ill., rises like an industrial behemoth from the frozen, harvested cornfields of Central Illinois. Steam billowed in the 20-degree cold last week, as workers turned raw corn into sweet, ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup. Three miles away, a Primient mill, which sprawls across 400 acres divided by North 22nd Street, was doing the same.
To Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, this bedraggled city — set deep in Trump country — is the belly of the agribusiness beast, churning out products that he says poison America, rendering its children obese and its citizens chronically ill......
“It’d have a huge impact,” a 37-year-old electrician who would identify himself by only his first name, Tyler, said of Mr. Kennedy’s declaration of war on corn syrup and corn oil. He was grabbing lunch at Debbie’s Diner in the shadow of the mills. “That shuts down Central Illinois, if A.D.M. shuts down.”
Mr. Kennedy’s other track record — on environmental protection and an abiding hatred of America’s unhealthy diet — may have been less of a draw to the fast-food-loving, regulation-hating Mr. Trump, but the former and future president said he would keep Mr. Kennedy’s environmentalism in check while letting him “go wild” on health.
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Mr. Kennedy’s critique is broad and deep. Generous federal crop subsidies of soy, corn and wheat artificially lower their costs, making byproducts like corn syrup cheaper for manufacturers who put it into everything from soft drinks to hot dogs to heavily processed bread. Crop engineering has made American grains more resilient to drought and pests but rendered them “nutrient barren,” he says, and farming practices have loaded grains with pesticides.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My family leans toward organic food options and high fructose corn syrup is probably just about non-existent in our diet, or at least minimal. Plus, we're sufficiently well-off that food prices really don't impact our way of life. But I think we're far from typical as consumers, who are much more budget-oriented.
And beyond dollars and cents, a whole lot of Americans will be appalled if Big Government limits or eliminates their favorite comfort (i.e., junk) foods.
Big Corn is also ethanol.
If RFK Jr can bring back cane-sugar to American Coca-Cola, he’ll be a national hero.
Amazing how the rest of the world does this now and it only the US Economy that will magically collapse if we follow suit.
When the Alky Gas hit the market my hope was that maybe we would see less corn syrup being put into EVERYTHING.
Naive, instead the Gov. just subsidized even mpre corn production to buy votes.
I’ve learned what products to buy and lost 40 Lb’s.
But it still annoys me that I must limit what I may eat so badly.
“ Crop engineering has made American grains more resilient to drought and pests but rendered them “nutrient barren,” he says”
Nutrient barren?
Utter nonsense.
Plant breeding/improvement/engineering has done ZERO to make crops with less nutrients.
It has made crops tremendously productive .
Herbicides are now used in OUNCES per acre instead of pounds.
Really dangerous organophosphates aren’t needed now.
“If RFK Jr can bring back cane-sugar to American Coca-Cola, he’ll be a national hero.”
Mexicans drink cane sugar cola, and often are obese.
I can tell you I really enjoyed a cola I had in Mexico - it had taste instead of gas.
If he goes all “nanny” Bloomberg and tries to force big gulps off the shelf he will cost Trump support.
Its gonna be interesting. I say F@@k big corn.
“Give me your tired, your poor”
People from poor areas tend to have genetics that allow them to store calories. Americans often have calorie storage favoring genetics.
“If he goes all “nanny” Bloomberg and tries to force big gulps off the shelf he will cost Trump support.”
I thought we were going to have a country governed by laws written by Congress instead of regulations issued by bureaucrats.
“Conservatives” love Big Government. Heck, some “conservatives” sound a lot like democrats from the 1980s.
Why would I pay any attention to something from the NYTs?
I already don’t buy E10 and certainly not E15.
Trump is wrong on not going for Pure Gasoline.
Does what? Americans enjoy the cheapest food on the planet. We have diseases of abundance. Because our food is cheap, people get fat.
Part of the problem is that enourmous subsidies go to the farms to make that stuff that is really pretty bad for you. How about we wean the farmers and big-agra off the subsidies. We don’t need to outlaw it but neither do we need to subsidize it.
Let the market decide.
In the rest of the world overuse of corn oil and corn syrup is mainly controlled by cultural factors. The bully pulpit is the most powerful tool I think.
And its no joke about the relative ill health of Americans.
Congress is too lazy to do their work and loves to have plausible deniability.
“Who me?”…….
Like the Coca Cola with cane sugar that they sell in Mexico but not here. Most of these foods can be made.
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