National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food Industry Marketers attempt to pass off "probiotics" as a new development...

The following is a letter to the editor we sent to the Bloomington Herald Times:

The food industry giants who hope to make a caboodle by getting into the food-as-medicine business are at it again with the help of the tax-funded "scientists" at the NIH. In the AP article on December 10 entitled "Food marketers, scientists looking at 'good' bacteria," we discover that the concept of good bacteria in food and the gut is "a hot new area' in which more "research is needed." The NIH, touting "a growing understanding" wants scientists to discuss all their "recent advances." This is despite a documented record and solid archeological evidence of the use of these bacteria in foods dating from 5 to 8 thousand years ago. Ever heard of yogurt? Sauerkraut? Kimchi? Cheese? Beer? Bread? Soy Sauce? Real Milk? Need we say "Duh?"! Don't let the scientific establishment and marketers, in their attempt to keep us enamored with industrial fake food, co-opt what civilizations knew for thousands of years prior to our current FDA/USDA-assisted food enlightenment. Get the book "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats" and start learning how to make or obtain real food locally. For more information see wapf.betterlocalfood.org.

... and not in the letter to the editor is this somewhat related news. The same industry that is touting probiotics as a new "scientific" invention is the one that feeds chickens "non-therapeutic" doses of the ANTI-biotic tylosin to promote growth. This is done with FDA approval (you know -- those guys we pay to keep our food safe....) This practice is known to greatly increase the number of erythromycin-resistant Campylobacter on chicken carcasses. A new study found that carcasses of chickens fed the non-therapeutic dose for speedy growth produced the highest levels of resistant campylobacter (10%). Chickens given therapeutic doses (for treatment of illness) showed a 2% resistance rate. Chickens given no antibiotics showed 0% resistant campylobacter. [Journal of Food Production, Vol. 70, No. 8, 2007, pages 1945-1951]