In US, plant-based diet easier than ever, even at Thanksgiving

Yahoo – AFP, Bob Chiarito, November 26, 2019

US President Donald Trump will "pardon" turkeys Bread and Butter (seen here)
before Thanksgiving, but some Americans do not eat turkey at all on the holiday,
preferring to embrace plant-based diets (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Chicago (AFP) - When Elysabeth Alfano hosts a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 next week at her home in Los Angeles, the menu will be traditional -- with a few key changes that were all but impossible just a decade ago.

For dessert, she'll have the staples that feature on nearly every American dinner table -- pumpkin and apple pie. And the huge number of vegetable side dishes are not unusual.

But the "turkey" -- the centerpiece of the meal -- will be a vegan-stuffed breast made of chickpeas, wheat gluten, tomato paste, mushroom broth, seasonings and red wine.

Her main dish reflects a shift in eating habits in the United States: there are an increasing number of Americans choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. But they're calling it something else.

While still only around three percent of Americans identify as vegan and six percent identify as vegetarians, more and more offerings are being marketed as "plant-based" -- a term which food industry watchers say is more palatable to all.

"Veganism is often linked with some sort of deprivation," explains Michael Robbins, spokesman for the three-year-old Plant Based Foods Association, which represents more than 100 companies including food giants like the Campbell Soup Company.

Pumpkin pies are part of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but some Americans 

are changing up their menus to accommodate their plant-based diets (AFP Photo/

Olivier DOULIERY)

"Plant-based is generally associated with the general benefits of eating plants" and "has been shown in research to have a greater acceptance to a broader set of consumers," he told AFP.

Indeed, nothing is more mainstream in America than fast food, and the giants are all in -- Burger King is serving meatless Impossible Whoppers, and McDonald's is test-marketing its plant-based burger.

"Just as the horse and buggy gave way to the car and the typewriter gave way to the computer, we are seeing more and more people go plant-based," says Alfano, a chef, coach and lifestyle expert.

"In the first half of 2019, 248 million plant-based burgers were sold, 95 percent of which were bought by meat-eaters. The meat-eaters are the largest segment incorporating plant-based."

Diet vs lifestyle

For decades in America, veganism has been linked to a way of life that transcends food choices.

Practitioners often don't only refuse to consume any animal-based products -- they also don't wear clothes made from animal products like wool or leather.

Eating vegetarian or vegan has become a lot easier in the United States 

in recent years (AFP Photo/Olivier DOULIERY)

Devotees of plant-based diets are generally all about the food, but they are happy to embrace the ethical debate as well, within reason.

Chicago-based artist Tammy Kohl grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin but has gradually shifted her diet, which has been completely plant-based for a year.

"To keep weight off by taking dairy out of my diet made sense. I did vegan cleanses and felt great and that inspired me," said Kohl, who added that anti-animal cruelty efforts made cutting out meat easier.

But she noted: "I still wear leather. If you own leather, you might as well wear it."

Holiday options

Jean Johnson, a sales consultant from Colorado, converted to a plant-based diet for health reasons and shies away from the term "vegan," which she says conjures up an image to which she does not subscribe.

On Thanksgiving, she says she'll stick to eating vegetable side dishes at a friend's home -- and isn't all that worried if she happens to inadvertently consume animal products.

"I'm not so OCD about it where you can't put any butter in the mashed potatoes -- it's such a small portion," Johnson said.

Tofu may feature on some Thanksgiving menus in the United States

(AFP Photo/Olivier DOULIERY)

Alfano, who splits her time between Los Angeles and Chicago, went completely vegan in 2016.

Her Thanksgiving plans are proof positive that the stigma which once surrounded non-carnivores, especially on traditional American holidays, is slowly fading away.

"What we have now that we didn't have 10 years ago is good taste. We have convenience and we have price," she says.

Kohl said she will celebrate the holiday with some relatives who raise beef cattle -- a profession that hardly aligns with her veganism. But another family member is a vegetarian, and everyone gets along.

"I usually bring my own plate and very quietly fill it up," Kohl said. "I'm not one of those preachy vegans."

Fad or trend here to stay?

Johnson believes that her plant-based diet helped her beat cancer, and she identifies another benefit of plant-based diets these days -- she has seen her grocery bills plummet.

Different takes on plant-based burgers are even being offered at the nation's

largest fast food chains such as Burger King (AFP Photo/ERIC BARADAT)

"Meat and dairy, that's not cheap stuff, whereas rice and beans, lentils and potatoes are cheap,” Johnson said.

Alfano agreed, saying it would also help Americans save money if healthier eating meant they could stop taking certain medications such as those to control cholesterol.

"It's really expensive to be sick. If you can get off the pills, you'll really be saving money," she said.

Of course, meat producers are hardly on board for all this, but they're not really worried either.

Hillary Makens, director of media relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said vegans and vegetarians constitute a tiny portion of the US market, and her industry has bigger concerns.

"The beef industry has been competing against other proteins for a long time. When you think of chicken, pork, beans, peanut butter, all types of protein, it's not really a new thing." Makens said.

However, consumer research company Mintel said the number of new US food and drink products that mentioned "plant-based" grew 268 percent between 2012 and 2018.

Additionally, in a May 2019 report, Mintel said 38 percent of US consumers report trying to incorporate more plant-based items into their diet.

"Rarely in life do you ever get a triple winner -- where one thing positively effects your health, positively effects your wallet, positively effects the environment and the planet," Alfano says.

US meat producers want a slice of vegan market

Yahoo – AFP, Juliette MICHEL, November 24, 2019

Agri-business giants are branching out with plant-based meat alternatives to
try to capitalize on the new trend (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

New York (AFP) - The growing craze for vegetarian versions of juicy burgers and sausages has created such a buzz that even traditional meat producers are trying to get in on the action.

The big players are trying to capitalize on the success of products from companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger.

JBS, the world's largest beef producer, has been marketing a soy burger in Brazil since the summer, which contains beets, garlic and onions and is similar to a rare ground beef.

The largest US meat producer, Tyson Foods, in June launched a new line of plant-based proteins and meat-vegetable blends called "Raised & Rooted."

And competitors Hormel Foods, Perdue Farms and Smithfield have unveiled similar initiatives to take a slice out of this new market.

"Our food culture is changing at a rapid pace," said Bryan Kreske, brand manager at Hormel Foods.

There is an "increasing curiosity and motivation to try great-tasting, alternative protein sources like plant-based proteins while decreasing their consumption of animal-based protein."

Regardless of whether it is the start of a new trend, or a passing fancy, the agri-food giants do not want to miss the opportunity.

Rather than target vegetarians, they are going after the 95 percent of consumers who eat meat.

But unlike the upstart alternative meat companies, which cite the carbon footprint of raising cows and other livestock, traditional players have a harder time using environmental or animal rights arguments to promote their products.

Instead they often focus on health benefits.

"It's more about our clients wanting to get more plants and vegetables into their diet and less about reducing meat consumption," said Eric Christianson, marketing manager at Perdue.

Best known for its chicken, Perdue in September released their "Chicken Plus" products, which include kid-friendly nuggets, made of a mix of chicken, chickpeas and cauliflower -- which they say is perfect for parents trying to get their kids to eat vegetables.

Beyond Meat "Beyond Burger" patties are one of the options for plant-based proteins, 

which now include chicken, shrimp and sausage alternatives (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

The company is betting big on this new product: earmarking half of its 2020 marketing budget to promoting it, spending especially heavily in January, "when people are really going to be in the mood to eat healthy," Christianson said.

'Plant curious' consumer

Soy burgers have been around for decades. But Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger have been working for the last 10 years to create products that are closer to the taste, texture and flavor of real meat, thanks to ingredients such as beets.

These products jumped into the headlines this year with their introduction in fast food chains, such as Burger King's Impossible Burger, and with Beyond Meat's spectacular Wall Street debut.

Traditional meat producers quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

At Hormel, the Happy Little Plants brand "moved swiftly from a conceptual idea rooted in the 'plant curious' consumer... to a commercially viable product line in just under 13 weeks," Kreske said.

But while these meat producers have no plans to abandon their main business, Impossible Foods says its mission is to replace animal proteins in the food system by 2035.

That might be overly optimistic. In the market for milk alternatives, plant-based drinks such as soy or almond milk make up just 13 percent of sales.

"For dairy, there's really a health reason" to not consume milk products, including allergies, said Perdue's Christianson.

But for meat, "it becomes more of a lifestyle choice to eat healthier."

Still, the alternative meat segment could become "significant," he said.

Robert Martin, who specializes in food policies at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, said the traditional producers are entering the plant-based meat market "in their own economic self-interest," so they do not lose market share.

He called the trend "troubling" and cautioned "it could have the side effect of stifling innovation and competition."

Even so, he views any plant-based alternative as "a positive step," adding that bigger players can bring "economies of scale" to producing these plant-based products, therefore reducing prices.

"They quit talking about themselves as meat companies, they now call themselves a protein company," Martin said.

Related Article:

Vegetarian Butcher to supply 2,500 Burger Kings with meat-free patties

Vegetarian Butcher to supply 2,500 Burger Kings with meat-free patties

DutchNews, November 12, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Dutch meat substitute company The Vegetarian Butcher has won a contract to supply burgers to Burger King in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. 

The Utrecht-based company, founded in 2007, was bought by Unilever at the end of last year and will now provide the protein for the Rebel Whopper in 2,500 Burger King outlets from Tuesday. 

Financial details were not disclosed. 

In the US, Burger King’s vegetarian burgers are provided by Impossible Foods which, according to the Financial Times, is still working to clear its products for sale in Europe. 

Main rival McDonalds works with new market entrant Beyond Meat

US fast-food giant Burger King launches its meatless burger in Europe, hoping to capture a substantial slice of a growing market https://t.co/z0C4TZJVtS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 12 november 2019

Veggie burgers gain in popularity, meat sales down

DutchNews, August 14, 2019

Photo: Zwanenburg.nl

Meat substitutes are gaining in popularity with Dutch shoppers while meat sales are going down, broadcaster NOS reported on Wednesday. 

Figures from market researcher IRI show that the sale of vegetable-based meat substitutes went up 51% over the past two years while meat sales went down by 9%. 

Chicken proved the exception with an increase in sales of 2% but the first half of this year saw a 0.2% falling off signalling that it, too, is becoming a less attractive consumer option.

Supermarket leaders Albert Heijn and Jumbo supermarkets now stock 100 and 200 meat substitutes respectively, the broadcaster said. In total, €123m was spent on substitutes in the last year, some 4.5% of the total spend on meat products. 

Traditional meat product producers and butcher shops are – sometimes reluctantly- adopting the trend for less polluting food, NOS said. Meat substitutes are much less harmful for the environment than meat, with 1 kilo of beef, the worst offender, producing over 57.9 kilos of CO2 and a kilo of tofu coming in at only 5.8 kilos of CO2. 

‘You have no choice. But we butchers are an innovative lot so we will turn our hand to meat substitutes,’ butcher of 50 years Gerard Steltenpool told the broadcaster. 

In January, website Nu.nl said the Dutch are eating less meat, with two in five people saying they cut down on steak and burgers last year. Around one third of the 20,000 people polled said they ate meat every day, while one in 10 is vegetarian and 7% fully vegan. 

Industry 

The Dutch meat industry is also adapting. Last December, multinational Unilever said it is taking over the Dutch fake meat company The Vegetarian Butcher ‘in response to the growing trend among consumers to increasingly opt for vegetarian and vegan meals’. 

Brabant-based meat processing giant Vion said in March it is seriously considering moving into the market for meat replacement products and in the future half the turnover of Dutch meat producing giant Zwanenburg will be based on non-meat products. 

‘The takeover of the Unox factory is a big step towards this goal,’ a Zwanenburg spokesperson told NOS. ‘For Unox we are making vegetarian sausages, soups and sauces.’ Including the vegetarian products produced by subsidiary Kips, Zwanenburg, vegetarian food now accounts for 30% of total sales.

EU states destroy suspect Polish beef as scare spreads

Yahoo – AFP, Michel VIATTEAU, February 1, 2019

Poland's chief veterinarian Pawel Niemczuk confirmed that 2.7 tonnes of the
suspect beef was exported (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Warsaw (AFP) - Several EU countries on Friday seized and destroyed suspect beef from a Polish slaughterhouse where allegedly sick cows were butchered, despite assurances from Warsaw that the meat did not pose a health risk.

Poland's chief veterinarian Pawel Niemczuk confirmed that 2.7 tonnes of the suspect beef was exported, while the European Commission said the meat was traced to 13 member states where it was being withdrawn and destroyed.

The scare recalls a 2013 scandal in which horsemeat was passed off as beef and used in ready-to-eat meals sold across Europe.

Brussels will send a team of auditors to Poland to assess the situation on the spot, said Anca Paduraru, a spokeswoman for the European Commission.

French authorities said 795 kilogrammes (1,750 pounds) of beef from the slaughterhouse -- which has now been closed -- had been imported.

More than 500 kilogrammes have already been seized and destroyed, said France's Directorate General of Food.

French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said nine French companies had been "duped" into importing beef from the abattoir in Kalinowo, a village some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Warsaw.

Lame or diseased?

Portuguese authorities said they had destroyed 99 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef, while Romania said it had eliminated 1,432 kilogrammes as a "safety measure".

The cows were slaughtered late at night when veterinary authorities were 

unlikely to visit (AFP Photo/ADRIEN MORLENT)

Sweden's National Food Agency said that just under 100 kilogrammes of the total 239 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef delivered to the country had already been consumed, while the rest has been seized.

The beef was also exported to the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain, according to the European Commission.

Niemczuk said another seven tonnes were sold to about 20 outlets in Poland but insisted that tests found it did not pose a health risk.

Despite the assurances, Polish beef producers are reeling from the scandal with prices falling by around seven percent since an undercover TV report on the slaughter was aired on Saturday.

"All segments of the Polish (beef) market are worried," Jerzy Wierzbicki, head of the Polish PZPBM meat producers' association, told AFP on Friday.

Wierzbicki insisted that the cows shown in the report by the TVN24 commercial news channel were lame but not diseased.

"They were lame cows... such cattle should not be taken to a slaughterhouse but should rather be put down on the farm by a person who is qualified to do so," Wierzbicki said.

A criminal probe was launched after a TV report aired footage of apparently sick 

or lame cows being dragged across the floor and then butchered in Poland (AFP Photo/

Janek SKARZYNSKI)

'Isolated case'

"This is an isolated case, concerning a single company, the concerns are unfounded," he said, conceding that the scandal could deal a blow to Polish beef producers who rely on exports.

A leading pork supplier in the European Union, Poland also produced some 415,000 tonnes of beef last year and nearly 90 percent of it was exported, Wierzbicki said.

Poland's Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said on Friday that "pathologies" in the agri-food industry would be "cauterised with a hot iron".

"A police investigation is underway regarding the owners of the slaughterhouse and anyone involved in this process," he said, adding that there was "zero tolerance" for anything that could harm Polish exports.

The criminal probe was launched after TVN24 aired footage of apparently sick or lame cows being dragged across the floor and then butchered.

The TVN24 report said dealers bought lame or sick cattle at much lower prices. A journalist working undercover at the abattoir used a hidden camera to film the secret late night slaughter when veterinary authorities were unlikely to visit.

The European Commission has not commented on the quality of the meat in question, but issued a statement that raised concerns about the treatment of the sick animals, which it insisted could not be considered fit for human consumption.

"The practice of dragging animals unable to walk, as described (in the Polish report) is prohibited by European Union legislation on the protection of animals in slaughterhouses," it said.

#UPDATE The Polish beef was identified in lots prepared by wholesalers, butchers or restaurants mixed with meat of other origin, a French agriculture ministry official told AFPhttps://t.co/bn8ufJAXhb

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 2, 2019

Meat producer Zwanenberg to concentrate on vegetarian market: FD

DutchNews, September 12, 2017

Soya is widely used as a meat replacement. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Zwanenberg Food Group, which includes Dutch meat and snack producer Kips and Zwan luncheon meat, is phasing out meat products in favour of vegetarian products, the FD reports. 

The family firm, which has been in business since 1929, says it is moving with the times and the new strategy comes in response to the fall in meat consumption in Europe. ‘It is now quite normal for young people to not eat meat three days a week,’  ceo Ronald Lotgerink told the paper. 

The switch is a ‘rigorous’ one, FD writes. In time Zwanenberg is aiming for 50% of its turnover to come from non-meat products like vegetarian snacks, soups and sauces. 

According to owner and director Aldo van der Laan the trend towards eating less meat is irreversible. ‘As a food producer we are looking to profit from this by buying specific companies or building more factories,’ he told FD. 

Fresh meat

At present 90% of Zwanenberg’s €400m annual turnover is based on meat products. 

The company has already sold its fresh meat business to Belgian meat producer Ter Beke for €40m. Kips liver paste is not included in the package and will be sold as a snack. 

It has also gained access to the new market for soups and sauces by taking over Unilever’s soup and (Unox) sausage factory in Oss where it will also produce part of its meat based products. 

The move towards diversification is not only a result of changing eating habits but also a matter of size. ‘Scale is essential in the food market,’ Van der Laan told the paper.

Dutch egg probe widens to chicken meat tests

Yahoo – AFP, Charlotte van Ouwerkerk and Jan Hennop, August 8, 2017

"Chickens have feelings too": Dutch animal activists wave banners and placards
as they stage a protest at a poultry farm in Witteveen (AFP Photo/Erik Brinkhorst)

The Hague (AFP) - In a new twist in Europe's tainted egg scandal, Dutch authorities announced Tuesday they had started testing chicken meat coming from affected poultry farms to determine whether it was also contaminated.

Scientists are looking for the presence of the insecticide fipronil, a substance potentially dangerous to humans, after supermarkets in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland pulled millions of eggs from the shelves.

"We are currently testing chicken meat in the poultry farms where eggs were infected to determine whether the meat is contaminated as well," Tjitte Mastenbroek, spokesman for food security agency NVWA, told AFP.

The probe focuses on "a few dozen" farms that produce both eggs and chicken meat, NVWA said.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Safety Board, the country's agency looking into civilian safety issues, announced it was opening its own probe into why fipronil was not detected earlier in eggs as well as "the role in this of the poultry sector and Dutch government."

"The way consumers have been informed about the risks of fipronil are also being investigated," the Hague-based OVV said in a statement.

Millions of chickens now face being culled in the Netherlands as the scandal widens across Europe.

Hard-hit Germany on Tuesday called on Belgian and Dutch authorities to quickly shed light on what it termed a "criminal network" involved in the contamination of eggs with fipronil.

"When one sees a criminal energy that's almost organised as a network it's unacceptable," said German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt.

He again criticised Belgian and Dutch authorities' tardy response to the crisis.

Belgium's top agricultural official Monday ordered the country's food safety agency to report within a day why it failed to notify neighbouring countries until July 20 despite knowing about fipronil contamination since June.

"It's not in the spirit of the early warning system to be aware in June but only to inform us by the end of July," Schmidt said.

Mastenbroek told AFP that a criminal probe by the NVWA under Dutch prosecution authorities and assisted by Belgium is continuing, looking at the role of companies in contaminating Dutch poultry farms with fipronil.

Meanwhile, the French government said Monday "thirteen batches of contaminated eggs from The Netherlands" were delivered in July to food processing companies located in central-western France.

First egg, now chicken

Mastenbroek said so far her agency's "highest priority" has been the detection of contaminated eggs.

"But now we also have the time to look at meat as a precautionary measure," she said.

Most farms exclusively produce one or the other, said Eric Hubers at LTO, a Dutch farming organisation.

If the meat tests are negative for fipronil, producers will be cleared to resume sales, Mastenbroek said.

LTO said the probability of chicken meat found to be infected was small.

However, if fipronil was detected "farming will be completely suspended," Mastenbroek said.

'Cutting costs'

The contaminated egg scandal erupted last week when up to 180 Dutch farms were shuttered due to the presence of fipronil discovered in some of the eggs.

It is believed the toxic substance was introduced to poultry farms by a Dutch business named Chickfriend brought in to treat red lice, a parasite in chickens.

Dutch and Belgian media reports that the substance containing the insecticide was supplied to Chickfriend -- a small company operating out of the Dutch poultry heartland in the central town of Barneveld -- by a Belgian firm have not been confirmed.

Currently Dutch authorities have closed down 138 poultry farms -- about a fifth of those across the country -- and warned that eggs from another 59 farms contained enough levels of fipronil that they should not be eaten by children.

Belgium has blocked production from 51 farms -- a quarter of those nationwide -- with fipronil found at 21 farms, although levels were ten times below the maximum EU limit, the country's food and safety authority AFSCA said.

Other European countries including Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal and Romania said they were analysing imported eggs, but so far no contaminated eggs were found.

Enviromental group Greenpeace on Tuesday called for massive reforms in the food supply system to become safer, healthier and more transparent and to do away with so-called "factory farming".

"Factory farming has been at the centre of a number of scandals, from Mad cow (disease) to bird flu, from swine flu to horsemeat," said Davin Hutchins, Greenpeace senior food campaigner.

"These are symptoms of a system trying to cut costs at every corner to maximise profits at the expense of public health and the environment," he said.

Dutch tainted egg probe widens to chicken meat tests https://t.co/8KmjKk8eUs #fipronil pic.twitter.com/RaJ3gTXcFU

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 8, 2017

Related Articles:

Two men arrested in egg scandal following raids in Belgium and NL

Two arrested in Europe as egg scandal spreads east https://t.co/nadjXS4JWM pic.twitter.com/YMTjnlWoy2

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 10, 2017

Only in California: butcher agrees to display anti-meat sign

Yahoo – AFP, Veronique DUPONT, August 7, 2017

"The Local Butcher Shop" in Berkeley, California, shown in this handout photo from
Direct Action Everywhere, was besieged by anti-meat demonstrators for months (AFP
Photo/Matt JOHNSON)

Los Angeles (AFP) - It was perhaps only a matter of time in ultra-progressive California, but a luxury butcher's shop is surprising patrons with a sign warning about the cruelty of eating meat.

"Attention: Animals' lives are their right. Killing them is violent and unjust, no matter how it's done," reads the notice greeting patrons of The Local Butcher Shop in Berkeley.

The business stuck the sign in its window as part of a "peace treaty" with animal rights activists in the left-leaning university town who have been picketing the store for the last four months.

Every Sunday as it opened for butchery lessons, it was besieged by demonstrators from rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DXE) -- sometimes naked, dripping with fake blood and wrapped in cellophane.

Monica Rocchino, co-owner of The Local Butcher Shop with her husband Aaron, was at her wits' end and decided to meet with the activists.

"They said they wanted Berkeley to become a meat-free city and they were ready to shut down our business," said Monica.

"We asked for actions we could do. And they said they'd think about it, but they kept protesting for 10 weeks. They made our neighbors mad, our neighborhood businesses were losing customers."

Finally, DXE laid down its conditions for burying the hatchet.

Ideal meat

"Either we had to become a vegan butchery or we had to stop giving these classes, or put up a sign saying that animals have rights," Monica told AFP.

She says the sign hasn't impacted custom.

"We go to great lengths to make sure our meat is from local ranches, is raised as humanely as possible, free of antibiotics. We want... this to be the ideal meat. Our customers know this and support us."

She acknowledges, however that the sign will not placate DXE, for whom the issue is black-and-white.

"For them, you kill animals or you don't. I understand that belief but it's another thing to force your ideas on other people," says Monica.

Berkeley, the cradle of the US universities' free speech movement, has been the scene of regular demonstrations from the days of the anti-Vietnam War campaign to recent protests against visiting right-wing speakers.

Recently it has been criticized for chilling free speech after canceling an appearances by firebrand pundit Ann Coulter and right-wing provocateur and former Brietbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.

Berkeley also happens to be the epicenter of America's organic food industry, its reputation for being green sent up in the TV series "Portlandia," in which restaurateurs provide photographic evidence that their meat is from ethically-raised animals.

DXE organizer Matt Johnson says one of the group's activists felt his blood chill as he saw "an advertisement for these courses where people are taught how to properly dismember the body of an animal."

In line with the better-known Peta animal welfare association, DXE directs its protests "everywhere where violence against animals is normalized -- rodeo, circuses, restaurants, the butchers."

"We dont have any ill will against any individual, no hate for butchers -- only love for animals," says Johnson.

"But we cannot accept small businesses misleading people, saying this is just fine, to be promoting a better brand of violence."

Related Article:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Police smash Europe-wide horsemeat racket

Yahoo – AFP, July 16, 2017

Spain's Guardia Civil police force began their investigation in 2016 after detecting
"unusual behaviour" in horsemeat markets (AFP Photo/THOMAS SAMSON)

Madrid (AFP) - A Spanish-led European police investigation has broken up an organised crime group that allegedly sold horsemeat across Europe that was "not suitable" for human consumption, officials said Sunday.

Police in Spain arrested 65 people suspected of crimes including animal abuse, document forgery, public health violations, money laundering and being part of a criminal organisation, Europe's policing agency Europol said in a statement.

The suspected leader of the group, a Dutch national, was arrested in Belgium, it added.

Spain's Guardia Civil police force began their investigation in 2016 after detecting "unusual behaviour" in horsemeat markets.

"They detected a scam whereby horses in bad shape, too old or simply labelled as 'not suitable for consumption' were being slaughtered in two different slaughterhouses," Europol said.

The horses came from Portugal and northern Spain and their meat was processed at an unspecified location from where it was sent to Belgium, one of the biggest horsemeat exporters in the European Union.

The group is suspected of having modified the horse's microchips and documentation to pass off the meat as edible.

The meat was sold across Europe and may have earned the group over 20 million euros ($23 million) per year, Spanish police said in a separate statement.

The Guardia Civil worked in cooperation with police in Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the statement added.

Spanish police seized five luxury cars as part of the investigation and blocked several bank accounts.

The investigation stems from a British horsemeat scandal in 2013 when frozen burgers supplied to several supermarkets were found to contain horse DNA.

Related Articles:

Dutchman at centre of new European horse meat scandal

Horsemeat scandal: Dutch meat trader could be central figure

French company Spanghero received meat from the Dutch trader seemingly
at the centre of investigations. Photograph: Imago / Barcroft Media