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I’m a vegetarian. I haven’t eaten meat in 20 years. Up until this morning I was OK with my dietary choice. But then I saw this video just uploaded by “Direct Action Everywhere,” a radical vegetarian activist gang, and now I am ashamed. Ashamed to be associated with them. Ashamed that everyone I meet must think I’m some sort of anti-meat revolutionary. Ashamed that mean-spirited lunatics have hijacked my personal food preference and turned it into rallyng cry for passive-aggressive bullying. Watch and weep, as a contingent of vegetarian fascists burst into a random restaurant in San Francisco and try...

First Lady and school nutrition advocate Michelle Obama’s stringent lunch guidelines are limiting children to just one ketchup packet per meal. A recent EagNews.com article profiled unhappy Idaho customers of the Obama administration’s revisions to the National School Lunch program, including a parent who called school lunches “not edible” and kids who have stopped eating lunch completely. “Kids can’t take two ketchup packets [for burgers] because that would set them over on calories,” said a Burley, Idaho “district food-service secretary.”

In what may be the ultimate Nanny State move, Vermont has outlawed consuming or bringing brownies, cakes, or cookies to school. The mandates are part of a new program titled “Smart-Snacks-in-Schools” and will apply to lunch items, vending machines, and fundraising events between midnight and half and hour after school. Boston.com reported:

If most foods created by the food industry are unhealthy, why not place a stiff tax on all of them and use the revenue to subsidize healthier food? This bold proposal, from Boston-area researchers, appears as commentary in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The researchers from Tufts University, Harvard University and Boston Children's Hospital wrote that their plan would surely meet strong opposition from both the food and restaurant industries but that it could help people make meaningful dietary changes and substantially reduce health care costs. At issue is the higher cost of...

Eating too much protein could be as dangerous as smoking for middle-aged people, a study has found. Research which tracked thousands of adults for nearly 20 years found that those who eat a diet rich in animal protein are four times more likely to die of cancer than someone with a low-protein diet. The risk is nearly as high as the danger of developing cancer from smoking 20 cigarettes each day. Previous studies have shown a link between cancer and red meat, but it is the first time research has measured the risk of death associated with regularly eating too...

It was eleven o’clock at night and the lady in front of me in the supermarket line was buying jars of baby food and bottles of Pedialyte. The cashier pulled some of the jars aside and told the lady they weren’t covered under the WIC program. “But you didn’t have the ones I can buy, the shelf is empty. I can’t buy the other ones because he won’t eat them,” the customer said. “I’m sorry, maybe if you call WIC you can get permission to buy these, but I can’t do anything about it,” the cashier responded. -snip- So when...

The food industry should be regulated like the tobacco industry as obesity poses a greater global health risk than cigarettes, say international groups. Consumers International and the World Obesity Federation are calling for the adoption of more stringent rules. These could include pictures on food packaging of damage caused by obesity, similar to those on cigarette packets. The new rules could include reducing the levels of salt, saturated fat and sugar in food, improving food served in hospitals and schools, imposing stricter advertising controls, and educating the public about healthy eating. Artificial trans-fats should be removed from all food and...

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may soon be telling you what you should eat to reduce your “carbon footprint.” In order to—ostensibly—prevent global warming and reduce our national carbon footprint, Washington is already telling Americans what light bulbs they can buy, and what buildings in which they should want to live and work. Now, food could be the next frontier. Currently, the USDA and HHS are drafting their 2015 Dietary Guidelines. Every five years, the USDA and HHS issue recommendations for Americans on what constitutes a healthy diet. As Dr. Barbara...

There is no area of our lives over which the government will not seek control. Take the latest example. Obama is reaching far beyond publishing new food nutrition guidelines or insisting on calorie counts in fast food restaurants, he is intent on allowing global warming alarmists and other extremist groups to co-opt them as well. In an article entitled, “Obama administration pollutes guidelines for healthy eating with unhealthy ideologies,” published Sunday by the Washington Examiner, National Center Senior Fellow and Risk Analysis Division Director Jeff Stier says environmental activists within the U.S. government plan to change the nation’s dietary guidelines...

Parents have condemned a school's decision to ban all pork products from the menu and replace other meats with halal versions. Pupils aged between three and 11 at Brinsworth Manor Infant and Junior Schools in Rotherham - which Ofsted identifies as having only a small number of pupils from minority ethnic groups - will no longer be able to enjoy sausages, bacon or ham. Parents at both schools, which share a site, were told of the decision in a letter from Rotherham Council’s principal catering officer Ron Parry, who wrote that there had been ‘minor adjustments’ to the lunch menu....

Bad news for burrito lovers: Chipotle warned in its latest annual report that climate change might lead it to leave guacamole out of its burritos and bowls. The chain blames the possible change on higher prices. “In the event of cost increases with respect to one or more of our raw ingredients we may choose to temporarily suspend serving menu items, such as guacamole or one or more of our salsas, rather than paying the increased cost for the ingredients.” The company acknowledged such a move would be a massive disappointment to some of its customers. But, as ThinkProgress points...

Greggs the baker is being forced to change the name of its best-selling Cornish pasty under new EU laws because the product contains peas and carrots. The new rules mean manufacturers must follow the traditional recipe of beef, potatoes, onions, swede and seasoning, if they wish to use the name. […] Cornish pasties were awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status in 2011 after a lengthy campaign by the Cornish Pasty Association to see their delicacy’s name protected. Protected Geographical Indication status prevents anything that is made outside the designated region from using the traditional name. …

The school lunch drama continues, this time in Manitoba, Canada. Close on the heels of a federally sponsored preschool in Virginia disallowing homemade lunches without a doctor’s note, a mom in Manitoba was given this note and a $10 fine when her children’s preschool felt that the lunch she sent from home required “supplemental” Ritz Crackers.

KEYE TV has learned city council is considering a resolution that -- if passed -- would "restrict fast-food food restaurants from locating near areas that children frequent." That includes schools, municipal parks, child care centers and libraries... Convenience stores are also being targeted. The plan would offer food marts incentives to carry healthy food options.

LONDON: The bacon and sausage on your plate or those steaming hot pies are increasing your chances of premature death from cancer and heart disease. Processed meat is to blame for one in 30 early deaths, a large-scale study has now found. The EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study involving 10 countries and 23 centres in Europe and almost half a million people has found that risk of premature death increased with the amount of processed meat eaten by a person. According to the study, even one sausage a day is bad for your health. The researchers...

Looking to cut back on the calories in your cocktail by mixing, say, diet soda and rum? Well, get ready for the buzz. According to the results of a new study, this combination will leave you drunker than if you'd mixed the liquor with a sugary, caloric mixer. "Alcohol, consumed with a diet mixer, results in higher (BrAC) Breath Alcohol Concentrations as compared to the same amount of alcohol consumed with a sugar-sweetened mixer," says Cecile Marczinski, a cognitive psychologist who authored the new study. Why? Turns out that sugar slows down the absorption of alcohol from the stomach to...

They’re at it again. The latest public rant against Michelle Obama’s effort to promote low-calorie school lunches was recently caught on tape in Alabama — the usual protest against the federal government meddling in local business. And then it quickly found its way around to the first lady’s posterior. “Fat butt Michelle Obama,” said Bob Grisham, a high school football coach who was surreptitiously recorded by one of his students. “Look at her. She looks like she weighs 185 or 190. She’s overweight.” Grisham, who was suspended Monday, is neither the first nor the most high-profile person to feel moved...

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- Proposition 37 is a measure to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food. There are two sides to this contentious issue.

Students boycotting school lunchesPublished: Oct. 6, 2012 at 4:46 PM NEW YORK, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Many U.S. high school students are protesting new, healthier school lunches, and a professor says it may take a while for students to accept healthier food. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 required public schools to follow new nutritional guidelines this academic year, providing fruits and vegetables and limiting fat, sodium, and calories, The New York Times reported Friday. "Before, there was no taste and no flavor," said Malik Barrows, a senior at Automotive High School in Brooklyn. "Now there's no taste, no...

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Students at Parsippany Hills High School held a strategy session on Thursday to discuss a potential lunch strike, on Friday, over what they have called inadequately sized meals. “This year you’re eating lunch and you’re like ‘Did I even eat?’ You’re not even full,” senior Brandon Faris told CBS 2′s Derricke Dennis. New federal guidelines stemming from first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign have resulted in limits on protein and bread, and an increase in vegetables and fruits. The changes have also come at an increased cost. All of it has also sparked a student...