My attention was caught by an add on Facebook today; the head of an orangoutang in cling wrap ready to be sold in supermarkets. I clicked the link which took me to a page that warned meat sold in Albert Heijn was soy fed, soy which is grown in plantations in South America that are not only damaging the environment but are also the cause of human rights violations.
I googled around a little and found this video which was part of an investigation by The Economist into Europe's cheap meat, click here to read the full article or watch the video below.
Friends of the Earth in The Netherlands has an ongoing campaigning about this apparently The Netherlands is the world's second largest importer of soy. If you feel as sick as I do right now please read and sign their petition.
We have already cut down drastically on meat mostly because we've found the quality of meat here pretty shocking, after reading this though, there is just no way we will be going anywhere near soy fed meat and instead aim at organic and free range. Can that even be found here in the Netherlands? Eating for me is getting harder and harder by the day. I am now a gluten free, sustainable fish only, extremely strictly non cephalopod, organic/free range meat eater. Bloody great...
6 comments:
Ack!!!! The Soy Debate always throws me. As a vegan I eat quite a bit of it (soy milk, tempeh, tofu, soy yoghurt, etc). Why does ALL food have to be evil?!?!
The only answer is for everyone to grow their own food. I wonder if I can fit a garden on my back balcony...
Hoi!!!!
I have written a post about it called "Food for Though" months ago. Let's all become vegetarians. "het is zo deftig en zo fijn / een vegetarier te zijn".
Amanda: Oh is it the same soy that is used for making tofu, soy milk etc etc? I thought these plantations were mostly produced to feed livestock really cheaply? Not for actual soy products? I guess why wouldn't they be?!
I've been replacing meat with tofu a lot lately, I would hate to think it's the same soy used to feed livestock here! Can you can get organic soy products?
We're heading down the organic alley as it is, there's a really cheap, really good quality organic shop near you actually and they even have corn thins!! (something I have never been able to find out of Aus - kinda like rice crackers but thinner and made of corn.... soooo good) and the best thing is it doesn't have trendy organic shop prices like Marqt. It's in that street left of Albert Hjein, know the one?
Anita: Thanks! I just saw it!
Yeah the natuurwinkel! I wouldn't be able to be a vegan without that puppy nearby! I can get all the staples there: tempeh, tofu, vegan jerky, nutritional yeast, various japanese things like umeboshi, etc, etc. I heart that damn place. :)
Oh, and I assume it's used for the same, although the article said 97 percent of the soy went to livestock (or something like that). So while tofu products contribute to it, they're not the worst culprit.
Wow! I had no idea the Albert Hein had such a dirty little secret hiding in their meat department. I was enjoying the proximity of a supermarket to my apartment, but now it appears I will have to think a little bit more about what I buy from there. Thanks for the heads up though!
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