The Viva Vine: vol #2, no #2: March / April 1993
Shorts:
...Get your mayor to sign a proclamation for your city making March 20 Great American Meatout
Day. Several mayors have already officially designated the day. Write to Farm Animal Reform
Movement (FARM) at 10101 Ashburton Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817 to obtain sample letters and
proclamations. (Enclose a donation and SASE.) Or call, 301/530-1737. (Meatout Outreach packets
can also be obtained from FARM.) The VivaVegie Society has already submitted material to New York
City's Mayor Dinkins.
.... According to the February 22 issue of "Newsweek," Jeremy Rifkin's Beyond Beef Campaign
recently filed suit in federal court seeking immediate warning labels on ground beef. Newsweek
quoted Rifkin saying "It's no stretch to say that beef is a killer in the long run, but what we
have here is the short run." Recent deaths due to E. coli contamination in beef sold in a Pacific
Northwest Jack in the Box restaurant prompted the quote and the article. E. coli bacteria
contamination, according to the Newsweek article, occurs as the result of carcasses coming in
contact with animal feces. As hamburgers are ground up, this especially makes them dangerous and
sometimes lethal, because bacteria can easily find itself in the center of a patty. Thorough
cooking makes the E. coli bacteria, though still present, harmless. So if you want it rare, you
better eat a steak as its interior (anyway) has no contact with animal waste. Newsweek did note
at the end of their article that "that nice shiny, green stalk of broccoli is looking better
every day."
...... Burger King Goes One Up. In Watkins Glen, New York, a Burger King outlet recently put
a veggie burger on its menu. Influenced by the people from the nearby Farm Sanctuary, the
resort-like refuge for rescued factory farm animals, the restaurant owner, Dennis Kessler, agreed
to make a little history for himself. Though not the first fast food franchise owner in the
country to "go veggie," he now purchases, at a premium price, authorized Burger King veggie
fixings from a British supplier. According to the March 3, '93 issue of the New York Daily News
that ran a story, the Burger King manager Colin Jumper is quoted as saying, "They say there are
12 million vegetarians in the United States. If we can kick into that market, it's well worth our
while." The burger is breaded and fried and made from beans, carrots, onions, potato flakes and
peppers. A Burger King spokeswoman, according to the Daily News article, noted that the veggie
burger the chain regularly sells in the United Kingdom is "very, very popular." Owner Kessler
noted, "I'm trying to do the right thing."
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