Farm Safety Award & HSUS On Cruelty

Farm Safety Award & HSUS On Cruelty plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. While the Humane Society of the United States claims it only wants to eliminate animal cruelty - many in the agriculture industry are convinced the group's true mission is to abolish animal agriculture altogether. Paul Shapiro with HSUS is an outspoken promoter of vegetarianism and veganism - has made statements in the past like "eating meat causes animal cruelty." But Shapiro denies wanting to eliminate the livestock and poultry industries. SHAPIRO: That certainly is my position that many farm animals are treated cruelly and yeah I agree with you that some people within the industry may be uncomfortable with that. Every year, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids recognizes the hard work of the organization's chapter network by giving awards to the chapters that go above and beyond. In 2009 over 130 chapters in the United States and Canada delivered more than 1,000 community events to 86,000 children, youth and farm families. It would not have been possible without 5,500 volunteers donating 44,200 hours of their time. The 2009 New Chapter of the Year award has been presented to the Central Columbia Basin chapter in Moses Lake, Washington which held two events and reached 76 children. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Could it be a rose by any other name is not a rose? That's what milk producers are trying to get the Food and Drug Administration to acknowledge when it comes to everything from soy, almonds, rice and more falling under the label of "milk." National Milk Producers are once again trying to get the FDA to stop the mislabeling of non-dairy products as milk. They first petitioned the FDA on stopping the practice a decade ago, and now state that non-dairy products have expanded beyond merely using the "milk" label; products made from rice, soy, and nuts are now including dairy-specific terms such as butter, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. Check in your dictionary and you'll find the definition of milk in short refers to the liquid produced by mammals and used by humans; not "the liquefying of anything you can fit into a blender." Of course the last entry under the definition of milk is "to use for one's own benefit, to exploit" and perhaps that's the definition we should be concerned with here, it appears to be the most applicable. Hopefully the FDA will finally address the NMPF's concern over proper product identification labeling. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.