House Cafeteria Goes Green, Lobbyists Complain
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01.16.08
Darren Higgins for The New York Times
Everything is political in Washington and there is a lobbyist for every interest group, so when Nancy Pelosi demanded an “environmentally responsible and healthy working environment” in the house, it meant changing the food in the cafeterias. Then the complaining started. According to Marian Burros in the New York Times, the egg industry complained about the use of cage free eggs and the Dairy industry about hormone free milk. The lobbyists say that the restaurant operators are “hooked by propaganda of animal rights groups” and are “advocates of vegetarianism.”
From the Times:
Restaurant Associates has received some complaints from lobbyists here about how their particular commodity is presented to potential diners, and a trade magazine and several lobbying groups have had something to say about a sustainability Web site set up by the company and linked to from the House dining services Web site.
Agriculture committee staffers, reflecting concerns of the egg industry, challenged a statement about the cage-free eggs used in some cafeteria meals.
It had said: “In the United States more than 95 percent of the nearly 300 million laying hens are confined to barren battery cages, unable even to spread their wings or engage in many other natural behaviors, such as nesting, foraging, perching and dust bathing. Cage-free eggs means the hens have not been confined to a battery cage.”
An editorial in the Dec. 31 issue of Feedstuffs, a weekly newspaper for agribusiness, explained why the industry wanted the statement removed: “A check of facts demonstrates that hens housed in cages are less stressed and healthier and safer.”
Bowing to pressure, Restaurant Associates edited the statement so that only the last sentence remained.
The same thing happened with hormone-free milk.
Other actions to go green include banning plastic and foam containers, going totally compostable, buying local food, and cooking almost all the food from scratch. We are waiting for the plastics industry and the take-out food companies to start complaining. ::New York Times
Recently a House cafeteria worker was fired because he grilled a cheese sandwich rather than toasting it. He was not a disliked person. I would never work there. Bunch of little conservative tyrants.
Make them eat nothing but salad, then the taxpayers will pay less for their health care.
Excellent news that the House of Reps is taking action to make its own environmentalism real. It is a struggle between those who with active minds against those who want all of us to remain as uninformed and helpless as possible so industry can maximize profits - people may suffer and die early, but no laws are broken so it is OK!
I do believe that all the wrong-doers such as those lobbyists may one day have a wakening of conscience, but only after they see the world moving away from them and become free to think for themselves again. Changing priorities to benefit all life, and carrying out those priorities effectively, will be an inner war for each of us that will likely persist even longer than the ongoing "war on terrorism".
salad dressings are fattening, too. And since a salad can contain just about anything and still be a 'salad' it really will just mean less dishes. maybe.
A word about lobbyists. Their jobs are weird.
The only way the people who pay lobbyist salaries know that actual work is being done is to see things like this in the paper. Hence, the lobbyist's willingness to lash out at every imagined threat, as a junk yard dog which fiercely snarls and barks at every passersby, whether it be a 8 year old child on bike matters not; he'll be yanking on the chain and growling as if his food dish being full depends on his every bark.
I agree with the lobbyists... the only food that should be served there is the crud they encourage US schools to buy.
The cheapest, most dangerous, GM, hormone added food they allow into the food chain.
And make the lobbyists eat there as well. Healthy food will only extend their putrid lives.
Hi, JL. I believe you that lobbyists have a reason for doing what they do that relates to getting their generous payments. However, work has an ethical dimension. Working to convince people that saturated fat is good for them and that all others are "treehuggers" etc (as an example) is a negative kind of work, harmful to all involved, and it should be refused. All work is NOT equal. I think those with a conscience could never lobby for, say, the fast food industry. I would rather sweep the streets.
Who wants to keep congress or the house healthy?
Bring them the crap food those lobbyist are pimping out. They are killing soldiers with their political grandstanding it is only fair that they eat the same type of food they do in the field. Make them eat the MRE's, the school food the old folks home rejected, and the hand outs. See how healthy they are after a while. And force them to eat that crap while they are in session they should not be allowed to leave the building for better food.
Those elitist and their lobbyist needs to be humbled greatly!
Free ranged eggs are better, artificial hormones are not needed in milk.
Organic foods taste better to me than factory farms veggies.
Good luck lobbyist you deserve to eat that crud you dish out.
D~W
Yes, the evil side of me says let KBR cater the cafeteria as they've catered to the soldiers - at $20 per plate! Let KBR provide the drinking water, which when my husband was in Iraq was more polluted than the acceptable levels for showering! When complaints start, let's see if politicians back down when KBR threatens to feed them PBJs or not at all as they did for soldiers when accounting was requested.
My more level-headed side is definitely happy to see action like this among "power brokers", though it doesn't seem like this story is being "taken to the people". Perhaps high visibility will beg the question of what's good for the goose and gander. If politicians get quality food will soldiers and students enjoy the same benefit? Likely not if health care is any indication.
Yes, the evil side of me says let KBR cater the cafeteria as they've catered to the soldiers - at $20 per plate! Let KBR provide the drinking water, which when my husband was in Iraq was more polluted than the acceptable levels for showering! When complaints start, let's see if politicians back down when KBR threatens to feed them PBJs or not at all as they did for soldiers when accounting was requested.
My more level-headed side is definitely happy to see action like this among "power brokers", though it doesn't seem like this story is being "taken to the people". Perhaps high visibility will beg the question of what's good for the goose and gander. If politicians get quality food will soldiers and students enjoy the same benefit? Likely not if health care is any indication.
Yes, the evil side of me says let KBR cater the cafeteria as they've catered to the soldiers - at $20 per plate! Let KBR provide the drinking water, which when my husband was in Iraq was more polluted than the acceptable levels for showering! When complaints start, let's see if politicians back down when KBR threatens to feed them PBJs or not at all as they did for soldiers when accounting was requested.
My more level-headed side is definitely happy to see action like this among "power brokers", though it doesn't seem like this story is being "taken to the people". Perhaps high visibility will beg the question of what's good for the goose and gander. If politicians get quality food will soldiers and students enjoy the same benefit? Likely not if health care is any indication.