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| Jamaica have become the Export Dumping Ground |
Back in the days you could not get most Jamaicans I know to eat out and even if they did eat out it would be for a light snacks, after they went home and enjoyed their nice Fresh Hot Home cook meal. I cannot imagine leaving grandma’s home cook stew peas and rice with the squidly dumplings to subject my tender tummy to the unknown, I do not know where this food was coming from, how fresh it was and what was in it.
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| Dried Dead Rats Found in Rice Imported from USA |
My Granny use to seh… “When something too cheap, sometimes dem nuh too good”… It will not be long before Jamaicans have another food disaster on its hands, like the counter flour poisoning of 1976 in which 79 persons died from imported cheap flour from Europe laced with insecticides.
We are going to learn the hard way that food security is a requirement, to invest in the things we can produce for ourselves instead of buying cheaper rubbish!… For a very long time the world was fighting the Japanese to import rice and even though they could import cheaper rice they refused to, the WTO forced them to and even though they complied they put in place strict rules governing rice importation, which almost nobody could follow, The rice that made it in did not reach the market, it was stored in warehouses and dumped thus protecting local rice production. In Jamaica we cannot subvert the efforts of our farming society telling them to grow more while we continue to import the world’s poisoned rubbish.
Red peas germinates as soon as it touches water and grows very well in Jamaica, we have the ability to meet the demands of our society and do not need to import red peas but we now have some unscrupulous importers and manufactures and supermarket owners who cares only about the profit margin and the SUV they can buy with it and care nothing about the health of the people.
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| Tastee's Patties Made with PINK SLIME (Beef Trimmings) |
"At present we use beef trimmings from the United States in the production of our beef products. I do not understand the term (pink slime)."
Beresford Bailey
Tastee Limited
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| This is what Goes into your Patties because it is cheap! |
Human Feces (Shit!) Fertilizer
Back in 2009 the Jamaican Government decided to import cheap Fertilizer made from Human Shit to fertilize our food crops and contaminate our ground water. The Jamaican Government claimed that the Shit Fertilizer was tested by the United States of America and they the US said it was safe. I am sorry but when it comes to my Food, America is the last country I would trust, that country will sell anything for a buck, even outdated chicken pieces and rice filled with dead rat and poop. We are taking the concept of shitting where we eat literally.
“In 2011 it was reported in Sydney Australia that that human faeces used as fertiliser on farms is leading to the spread of ‘Third World’ parasites causing a serious stomach illness across Sydney. Blastocystis hominis, usually found in dirty water in ‘Third World’ countries and spread via faeces, and a second parasite which often accompanies it, Dientamoeba fragilis. Both parasites lead to stomach cramps, extreme pain, distended stomach and diarrhea.”
There is no fire in the belly of our Political class for Identity and Self Worth, no longer into Poor but Proud, only party, profile… Gimmie the Benz keys, even if it means we eat GMO foods fertilized with shit fertilizer and beef trimming/pink slime burger at Cuddyz and Patty from Tastees, rice and peas with rats and poop. Principle as a concept in Jamaica is dead, we will buy anything, eat anything so long as it’s cheap and imported from America, our only Principle is the "Man afi eat a Food Principle...even if is shit the food mek out of it". We are killing what is Natural, Wholesome and Organic about Jamaica, turning it into a Laboratory for experiment and our people into lab rats.
Recently it was reported that we were importing Banana chips from the US and a couple years ago we were importing Beef patties from Florida, this when we have a patty shop on almost every corner across the country. We are not importing these products because they are in short supply, we are importing them maybe because they are cheaper but knowing the duties on importing products I do not know how that could be and because they are coming from America (AKA Merka!) and we have been socialized to have a zombie like attraction for all things from Merka.
I am convinced that if America defecates in a jar and put on a label that said "American Chocolate Spread", Jamaicans would import it by the boat load and would profile on others who cannot afford the special imported chocolate spread.... yes they are that shallow.
Pink slime, also known as lean finely textured beef and boneless lean beef trimmings, is a beef-based food additive that may be added to ground beef and beef-based processed meats as inexpensive filler. It consists of finely ground beef scraps, sinew, fat, and connective tissue which have been mechanically removed in a heated centrifuge at 100°F (38°C) from the fat into liquid fat and a protein paste. The recovered material is then processed, heated, and treated with ammonia gas or citric acid to kill E. coli, salmonella, and other bacteria. It is finely ground, compressed into blocks and flash frozen for use as an additive to beef products. The term pink slime was coined in 2002 by Gerald Zirnstein, who at that time was a microbiologist for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service, but some state officials have objected to the nickname, saying that "lean, finely textured beef is the proper name."
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| Imported Frozen (maybe) Beef Patty |
Learn More: GMO alert: top 10 genetically modified foods to avoid eating
I have been told that we need to eat GM products or else we are going to starve, Genetically Modified foods (GM foods) were first put on the market in 1996 but I do not remember mass starvations before 1996 and the countries that use to starve before 1996 are still starving today, same countries, same pictures of starving people. The people who are telling us that we need GM products are almost always the people who are profiting by it, we need it and we are going to starve if we do not have it.
Deep down I know fighting GM products is a losing battle, they are too powerful, Governments are being bought, paid to push these products, we are too few and most of population do not care so long as they are eating, we are not educating people to think about what is in their foods, not publishing laboratory test results for all to see. Food does not come with a disclaimer like most drugs, imagine buying a pack of beans that says “May cause Cancer”, well cigarettes even though its not food, have been saying that for some time and people continue to smoke it.
Worthless Local Media Outlets
A proper Investigation into our food source is required by Journalist who is not afraid to ask the hard questions and do the Research. Why are we asking companies about the food they are importing, when that information is documented for us in various Customs, Excise and tax departments, after which a follow up investigation into the exporter and where the food came from? A full investigation following the food trail is required in order to satisfy the minds of Jamaicans who are concern with where their food is coming from.
The Gleaner is missing the opportunity to perform some real in-depth investigative journalism, instead preferring to take the words of the fox regard the state of the hen house. Jamaica is a country where one can pay to have their flawed opinion and one sidedness of the story pushed forward, they will do and say anything to save face. It is no wander the local media have been second and third best to foreign media outlets. Take for example the situation regarding the Tivoli incursion; most of our breaking news has come from real investigative journalist from foreign media houses, with our local media doing second hand reporting. This from an event that happened in Jamaica, so no wonder we are being let down time and time again as the Gleaner and other local media houses practice lazy journalism.
Read More: Pink slime not safe
Update: Thursday | June 16, 2012
JAMAICA'S FOOD import bill continues to spiral out of control, jumping by US$100 million last year to a staggering US$930 million. Some J$750 million was spent on imported French fries.
Following his disclosure at a recent graduation ceremony for the first batch of 28 graduates from the Farm Field School project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Roger Clarke told Agro Gleaner that the increase was a shocker.
He said: "I was anticipating a lowering of the import bill (so) I was alarmed at it." This comes against the background of the national 'Grow What We Eat, Eat What We Grow Campaign' and Backyard Gardening project, both of which were deemed to be successful in promoting consumption of local agricultural produce.
Meanwhile, Ancile Brewster, the IDB's country representative to Jamaica, warned that any attempt at reducing the food import bill would need to go well beyond "more than just blocking" imports. Speaking ahead of Clarke, he had put Jamaica's annual bill at more than US$800 million, which, when combined with Trinidad and Tobago's US$600 million, sees the two countries paying in excess of US$1.5 billion to import food each year. Read More: Rising food import bill concerns Clarke
LOCAL BANANA growers in Portland are appealing to the Ministry of Agriculture to provide a sustainable local market for them to sell their fruits, as thousands of acres of green gold are going to waste. The last-ditch appeal comes against the background of large amounts of banana chips and other by-products of the fruit that are imported into the country each year, while rural banana farmers remain poor.
Read More: Banana growers plead for help
Jamaica too dependent on imported food - Jamaica Observer
Who is to blame for this sorry situation? First, merchants who import food with total disregard for foreign exchange use, or local food production and nutritional content. For example, we import orange concentrate syrup from England where no oranges are grown and when similar products are made in Jamaica. Second, consumers who largely imbibe food consumption patterns from elsewhere, for example, the consumer who abandons our coconut vendor to pick up a bottle of imported coconut water.
Read More: Jamaica too dependent on imported food
The Pulitzer Center, Jamaica
A Sweet Flavor: Goat Farming in Jamaica : by Julia Rendleman
"Our economy would be better and Jamaica could be more independent if more youths would get into (goat) farming," he said.
Food Security: On the Cusp of a Crisis in Jamaica by Julia Rendleman
It's a frustrating irony for Jamaica: a fertile land with the ability to produce an abundance of fruits and vegetables is increasingly reliant on cheap agricultural imports that drive the country's farmers out of business. As Jamaica lifts its trade restrictions, foreign products flood the market. Jamaicans say locally produced food tastes better, but most still opt for the lower-priced foreign alternatives. The country's growing dependence on exports exposes it to the whims of international markets and jeopardizes its food security.
