Piggy Soybeans !

 Here's the menu:
- soya with corkscrew tail
- peas, rare or medium
- beef cheese
If there's anything you don't like about this menu, you're probably a horrible transphobic extremist.

"SE"

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) this month approved a biotech firm’s plan to genetically engineer soybeans to produce a “plant-grown” meat protein the company calls Piggy Sooy.

Luxembourg-based Moolec Science is genetically modifying soybeans to produce porcine myoglobin, a pig protein. The end product is a “blended meat,” which is part plant, part animal.

The company, a subsidiary of the Argentine biotech group Bioceres, is also developing a yellow pea plant that produces beef protein.

Moolec’s patented technology — which the company calls molecular farming — splices pig genes into a conventional soybean. The resulting soybeans are a pink fleshy color inside and the company claims they contain 26.6% animal protein.

Martin Salinas, Moolec’s co-founder and chief of technology, said in a press release that the approval sets the stage for another food biotech “revolution” that is “paving the way for expedited adoption of Molecular Farming technology by other industry players.”

But Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), called the technology “a nightmare in the making.”

 Hooker said:

“To reduce the complexities of porcine meat into a single protein (myosin) which is the only pork protein produced by the Franken-beans is completely myopic. This is not a pork replacement, it is a recombinant myosin production factory.

“Consumers would therefore be eating a novel substance requiring extensive testing and would require something far beyond what FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] does routinely for GM [genetically modified] food.”

John Fagan, Ph.D., co-founder, CEO and chief scientistof Health Research Institute, told The Defender there is always a very real and serious concern that there will be unanticipated and unpredictable side effects associated with GM foods.

This product is particularly concerning, he said because, “Until now most GM foods fed to humans have been a minor ingredient within a product, whereas here the GM ingredient will be the primary ingredient. So people who eat it will eat much larger amounts of GM foods than they’ve eaten in the past.”

“That means they pose a whole lot more risk,” he added.

‘What could go wrong?’

The USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which regulates genetically modified organisms (GMOs), determined that Piggy Sooy and its progeny won’t likely pose a greater plant pest risk than regular soybeans and therefore doesn’t need to be regulated by that agency.

Moolec said the company plans to “accelerate its go-to-market strategy” now that it has approval from APHIS. However, the company may still need approval by the FDA and is going through that consultation process.

GMO experts who spoke with The Defender said their biggest concern with “blended meats” products is that there hasn’t been any human health testing on any of them.

Crop scientist and regenerative farmer Howard Vlieger said the potential danger from GMOs comes not only from the genes spliced into the plant but also from the insertion process itself, which can introduce foreign proteins that stress the human immune system.

“It wreaks havoc,” on human health, he said.

Mark Kastel, executive director of food industry watchdog OrganicEye, said he was also concerned with the lack of environmental testing.

“Once we release these GMOs into the environment, there’s no calling them back,” he said. He cited past examples with untested products, for example, DDT. Once regulators realized it was toxic, they could stop its production and application, but because it is a persistent chemical, they couldn’t get it out of the environment.

“Once GMOs are in the environment, depending on the cultivar, it can cross with other species. It can contaminate crops, non-targeted crops,” he said.

Vlieger said such products also have been shown to pose serious problems for people who may have a food allergy to the contaminants.

In this case, Vlieger and Kastel said, people may have religious or other beliefs that prohibit them from consuming the pork that could accidentally contaminate their food.

Piggy Sooy “is not soy and it’s not pork,” Kastel said. “It’s a novel food that has never been part of the human food chain. That’s a lot of experiments in one economic venture.”

“What could go wrong?” Kastel asked. “We’re opening up this can of worms. We don’t know where it will lead, maybe no problem, but we’re just kind of rolling the dice and experimenting.”

Kastel said the primary motivation was not to address any environmental issues, as the alternative protein industry claims. “It’s profit,” he said.

“What problem are they even really claiming to address?” he asked. We don’t have a shortage of pork, and we don’t have a shortage of soybeans.” And existing production processes, “as inhumane as they are,” he said, “are efficient.”

“So the problem they are actually chasing is, ‘How do we create a patented life form that can be licensed to be grown and realize a return for investors?”

Vlieger said these companies can get their products through the regulatory process easily because regulations are lax.

Regulatory agencies don’t regulate GMOs differently from regular food crops based on the principle that they are “substantially equivalent” to the non-modified product and therefore don’t need tailored regulations.

“But,” he said, “If there’s no difference between this and a different organism, why should you be able to patent it?”

The approval process is “so ludicrous that it is hard to fathom,” he added.

Farmers, food sovereignty advocates and others have long protested patents on plants and other living organisms, because they restrict farmers’ access to seeds, and their ability to experiment and research and have led to consolidation of the food industry.

Patents for genetic modification processes also often claim intellectual property rights over any seeds or plants that include the same genetic information as the products created in that process.

“It’s almost laughable,” Fagan said. “Human beings have been producing soy for at least a few centuries, if not more. And they’ve influenced probably almost every gene in the plant. And now a corporation comes in and adds one thing, and on the basis of that, they can own the whole soybean.”

Food sovereignty advocates have extensively documented how patenting food has hurt small farmers and traditional practices.

The food critic for the Financial Times, Tim Hayward, wrote in September 2021 that intellectual property rights — which can lead to windfall profits — are behind the push for lab-grown meats.

Owning intellectual property rights over meat, Hayward wrote, would give private companies the power to replace the meat that is currently consumed with a proprietary product.

Both Vlieger and Kastel said the heart of the problem in the approval process is that the industry has captured the regulators.

Tom Vilsack, Biden’s USDA secretary who also served eight years under Obama, was the former governor of Iowa. According to the Center for Food Safety, which opposed his nomination as secretary in 2021, Vilsack has long been recognized for his “aggressive promotion of genetic engineering.”

He was named “Governor of the Year” twice by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

He also used his authority to push through approval of genetically engineered (GE) crops with little to no scientific oversight and weakened regulations for genetically engineered crops and sided with biotech companies, “in every single public interest case attempting to halt GE crop harms or have them better regulated,” Center for Food Safety said.

Fagan said that there is also “huge lack of transparency” today concerning genetically engineered crops. Even the information shared with regulatory agencies is often inaccessible to the public because it is considered proprietary.

As a result, he said, “Consumers are rightfully highly skeptical of them [GE foods] because they have not been given any information about their nutritional value, about their safety, their molecular composition, all of those things.”

A savior for the faltering ‘alternative meats’ market?

Most lab-grown meat is made by taking stem cells from animals and placing them in large steel tanks called cultivators or bioreactors. The cells are “fed” a mixture of sugars, amino and fatty acids, salts, and vitamins to proliferate quickly. The patented processes used by the different companies vary. Some produce muscle and connective tissue in large sheets and others in big masses.

Moolec’s technology is different, but the company makes similar promises — that its technology will “overcome climate change and global food security concerns” while “creating value for shareholders and the planet,” it said.

CEO Gaston Paladini, board member and heir to the Paladini SA Argentinian meat dynasty, founded the company in 2020. He introduced his pork soybeans to the world in June 2023.

The company went public in January 2023 after merging with LightJump Acquisition Corp. At the time it was valued at $504 million and was the first molecular framing food-tech company to be publicly traded.

In October 2023 it announced it had raised $30 million to expand its molecular farming operation. It has an industrial facility in Argentina with the capacity to crush 10,000 tons of soybeans per year.

At the time, Moolec projected a $65 billion market for its products, according to an investor presentation.

In a press release this week, Paladini commented enthusiastically on the USDA approval of its Piggy Sooy product.

“Moolec embraced Nasdaq’s slogan ‘Rewrite Tomorrow’ and took it literally! We achieved an unprecedented milestone in biotechnology with the first-ever USDA-APHIS approval of this kind,” he said.

Moolec’s stock shot up by 121% on the news, but overall it was down significantly. In long-term trends, company shares traded at a record high of $20. Last week it peaked at $2.17 per share. As of Monday morning, it was back down to $1.45 per share.

Paladini ascribed this to “a mismatch between market understanding and the real opportunity,” and said the company needs more visibility to change that, Green Queen reported.

 Investors have poured billions of dollars into making “alternative meats,” either in a lab or, more recently, in plants. Investments came from venture capitals and sovereign wealth funds like SoftBank and Temasek, and major meatpackers like Tyson, Cargill and JBS, The New York Times reported.

Company CEOs boldly touted “a new era” in agriculture, and billionaire investors like Bill Gates and Richard Branson rushed to invest heavily and publicly promote several cultivated, or “lab-grown” meat companies and lab-produced meat substitutes like the Impossible Burger.

Lab-grown meat start-ups Eat Just and Upside Foods reportedly had valuations at over $1 billion each. And the USDA greenlit the sale of the first lab-grown meat in the U.S. market last year.

The enthusiasm that drew billions to the industry, however, has waned in the last several months.

Initial investor capital dried up, production has proven to be very expensive, touted environmental benefits were shown to be either mistaken or fraudulent, scientists have questioned its safety and companies have been unable to convince consumers to buy their products.

Industry leaders like Upside Foods reported earlier this year that it would pause its major factory expansion plans.

Even the Times pronounced the lab-grown meat “revolution” to be “dead,” and venture capital funding for food technology took a major dive in 2023.

Plant-based meat companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat also faltered, with many restaurants pulling the fake meat from their menus and profits plummeting after consumer scrutiny of the ultra-processed products and disappointment with the products’ taste and affordability.

Kastel said people confuse the term “plant-based” to mean healthy, but most so-called plant-based foods are highly processed, separated from the natural microbiome of the earth and none of them are organic.

Instead, he said the companies use conventional, industrial-produced agricultural materials and synthetic ingredients to create “food-like substances.”

A new report from the Good Food Institute shows that sales of vegan meat, dairy and seafood fell 26% between 2021 and 2023.

Paladini said his company’s products will be different, because they will sell the blended soy and pea products with the meat embedded in them, rather than extracting the meat, which will save on costs.

In doing so, Moolec joins a niche “blended meat” market, with several other companies, including 50/50 Foods, SciFi Foods and Mush foods, who say they are bringing together plant-based foods with cultivated meats.

These companies say cultivated meat “is not ready for prime time,” and that their products can help people eat less meat and get more people eating vegetable proteins.

Moolec, a self-described “food hacker,” has an international patent portfolio of over 25 patents that are either granted or pending.

Paladini said his products will make better-tasting “alternative proteins” by enhancing plant-based proteins with molecular material from animals. They do this by “embracing science.”

In 2025, Moolec is set to launch a nutritional oil containing gamma-linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) produced using another patented technology applied to a strain of safflower.

The FDA and USDA approved the oil, so Moolec can grow, import and move its plants across state lines without a permit.

It is also developing a bovine chymosin protein used in cheese, also greenlighted by the USDA.

Unemployed, but not without Work

 

 The broadcast of this documentary (1h12) I was unable to translate it into English, which I am really sorry.

https://www.facebook.com/100001064094952/videos/399420342860399/

Documentary initiated by a group of RSA (Active Solidarity Income) is a French social protection benefit that complements the income of destitute individuals or those with low resources, to guarantee them a minimum income.

It is as citizens that they wanted to exchange and share their experiences and reflections on the situation in which they live.

The formula surprises many as the difference is not necessarily obvious. For an employee, the two notions merge, but for someone without a job, the difference is glaring.

Everyone interviewed considers that they work, but they receive an RSA allowance because they are not employees and are therefore considered unemployed. Their reflection stems from their analysis of the social, professional, and cultural environment in which they operate, and the observation is clear: in the eyes of society, they have no job, therefore no work, making them a burden on society.

Deconstructing this process is one of the themes of the film, in addition to the notion of Employment/Work. Added to this are the specific issues faced by each individual: difficulties in speech, health problems, mobility issues, precarious month-ends, and the often challenging judgment of others. All the people interviewed are insightful, both about themselves and about the world of work and the RSA system.

Faced with these testimonies, faced with these often moving but always sincere encounters, the choice of editing will be one of sobriety. The best way to honour all these people who have had setbacks is to respect their words, their hesitations, their convictions, and their humanity.

The people who initiated this film and participate in it prove through their commitment that they are not burdens, but fully-fledged members of the society in which they operate.

SAISI

 

French Supermarkets Revolt Against "Unacceptable" Prices from Agro-Industrialists

 

Shock formulas, public denunciation of prices, and a united front against high living costs: the revolt is spreading across French hypermarkets and supermarkets. Carrefour, one of the major players, made headlines by boycotting crisps and other PepsiCo products on January 4, citing "unacceptable price increases." This move has triggered a sector-wide rebellion, just weeks before the culmination of commercial negotiations with agro-industrialists.

Carrefour, a leading food distribution giant, took a bold step on Thursday, removing popular brands like Lay's, Doritos, Quaker, Pepsi, and 7Up from its shelves in France. "We no longer sell this brand due to unacceptable price increases," declared Carrefour, with sources revealing that the delisting extends to Carrefour stores in Belgium, Spain, and Italy.

The sector-wide resistance aligns with the recent declaration of E.Leclerc's media representative, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, who emphasized challenging inflation during negotiations with industrial suppliers. The balance of power between supermarkets and major manufacturers intensifies as annual commercial negotiations, determining crucial conditions of sale, approach their end in late January.

The government's decision to expedite negotiations, ending on January 15 for smaller suppliers, anticipates that reductions in raw material costs, such as wheat and oil, will promptly reflect on shelves.

Major stores report facing demands for price increases, exemplified by Coca-Cola's assertion of a 7% average increase in November. While these negotiations unfold, distributors are taking unprecedented measures, with Carrefour leading the way. Delisting serves as a tool to apply pressure on manufacturers and demonstrate their commitment to defending purchasing power.

This strategic move by Carrefour mirrors the approach of other brands. Système U's Dominique Schelcher revealed earlier delistings, stating, "Pepsi. Not just sodas, but also chips. The blow is off." Even Michel-Edouard Leclerc acknowledged the practice, cautioning that it's a tough game, as consumers want affordable products available.

As negotiations intensify, the industry anticipates rigorous discussions. With shopping basket prices surging by an average of 20% over the last two years, supermarkets are determined to secure price reductions, even if it means wearing "boxing gloves" in the negotiations.

Saisi

THIRD and Last PROPHECY of The VIRGIN FATIMA 1917 - BE AWARE

 

 

"When the world is asking for peace and security and repenting for all the evil it has done, sudden destruction, the new Armageddon, will come, and they will suffer."

These were the prophecies of the Virgin of Fatima when three children appeared in 1917 and said that by the dates of 2005, the end would come. Lucia was only 10 years old when the apparitions occurred, which began on May 13, 1917. Lucia and her two cousins saw the Virgin Mary on a tree for a period of six months. The Carmelite nun Lucia of the Immaculate Heart, the last survivor of the three children who claimed to see the Virgin Mary in the Portuguese town of Fatima, died at the age of 97 on February 14, 2005. She died in the convent of Coimbra where she had lived since 1948. This message was read by Pope John Paul II, who decided not to reveal this secret because he considered that doing so would bring panic and despair to the world. Now another part of this message is revealed.

NOT TO CAUSE PANIC, BUT BECAUSE IT IS CONSIDERED THAT PEOPLE ARE ALREADY PREPARED TO KNOW IT AND CAN BE AWARE OF WHAT IS APPROACHING IN THE COMING DATES. 

Sister Lucia first disclosed the message to Pope John Paul II, who, upon finishing reading it, was trembling and decided not to make it public out of fear of the reaction. The Virgin said explicitly to Lucia: "Do not be afraid, dear little one. I am the Mother of Heaven, speaking to you and asking you to make this message public to the entire world. By doing so, you will encounter strong resistance. Listen well and pay attention to what I say: Men must be corrected. With humble supplications, they must ask forgiveness for sins committed and those they may commit. Do you want me to give you a sign so that each one accepts my words that, through you, I say to humanity? You saw the prodigy of the Sun, and everyone, believers, unbelievers, peasants, citizens, wise men, journalists, laypeople, priests, all saw. A great punishment will fall upon the entire human race, not today, not tomorrow, but in the second half of the 20th century. I had already revealed it to the children Melania and Maximino, in 'la Salette,' and today I repeat it to you because the human race has sinned and trampled on the gift it is given. Nowhere in the world is there order, and Satan reigns over the highest positions, determining the course of things. "Because men are being led by the demon, sowing hatred and revenge everywhere. Men manufacture deadly weapons that can destroy the world in minutes. Half of humanity may be horribly destroyed. There will be conflicts between religious orders. God will allow all natural phenomena like smoke, hail, cold, water, fire, floods, earthquakes, inclement weather, terrible disasters, and extremely cold winters like those of these times to end the earth gradually, There will be incurable diseases, people mocking saints and the church. There will be uncontrolled killings, people will kill each other, many people will suffer. Some natural phenomena will happen before 2005 and will continue thereafter with greater intensity and destruction; the climate will change suddenly, extreme weather. They will not survive, lack of charity towards others and not loving each other as my son loved them. Many will wish to be among the dead because millions will lose their lives in seconds and suffer too much; new forms of life will come and contribute to destruction to gain more power for themselves and thus propagate their new race. The punishments that lie ahead of us, on Earth, are unimaginable, but they will come, without a doubt. God helps the world, but whoever does not bear witness to fidelity and loyalty to Him will be irreversibly destroyed because many have already turned their backs on Him and He can do nothing about it." Father Agostinho, residing in Fatima, received permission from Pope Paul VI to visit Sister Lucia. Father Agostinho expresses that she received him very saddened, with tears in her eyes, and said to him: "Father, Our Lady is very sad because no one has cared about her prophecy of 1917; people do not care about this prophecy. Thus, while the good ones have to follow a narrow path, the wicked are going on a broad path that leads them directly to destruction, and believe, Father, that punishment will come very soon from 2006 and will come without being able to stop it. Many souls may be lost, and many nations and states will disappear from the Earth; the world may be lost forever. The time has come for everyone to convey the message of Our Lady to their families, friends, and the whole world. We are close to the last minute, the last day, and the catastrophe is coming.               (BEWARE) WHAT AWAITS US? Everywhere talks about peace and security, but punishment will come without anything that can stop it. A MEANINGLESS WAR WILL CAUSE NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION. This war can destroy everything; it will be a disaster. Darkness will then fall upon us for 72 hours (3 days), and the third part that survives these 72 hours of darkness and sacrifice will begin to live in a new era. On a very cold night, 10 minutes before midnight, A GREAT EARTHQUAKE will shake the earth for 8 hours. The good, those who propagate the prophecy of the Virgin of Fatima, SHOULD NOT FEAR, but others will suffer the consequences of ignoring this warning; the earthquake will cause the destruction of a large part of the earth; some parts will separate and cause great disaster!

WHAT TO DO?

Sister Lucia says that the Virgin asks:

"Do not leave your house and do not let anyone strange enter it; new and unknown people will come, appearing to be good, and they will tell you to join them, to their new race and way of life, do not pay attention!.. These new 'people' will take advantage of the catastrophe that will happen in the world (earth)....

Sister Lucia continues according to what was revealed to her:  So that you may prepare and remain alive, like my children who also are; I will give you the following signs:

The night will be very cold. Strong winds will blow. There will be anguish, and soon an earthquake will begin that will shake the earth strongly. At home, close doors and windows and do not speak to anyone who is not inside it. Do not look outside; do not be curious, for this will be the wrath of the Lord. Light blessed candles, for three days, no other light will be able to illuminate. The movement will be so violent that it will move the earth 23 degrees and then return to its normal position. Then a total and complete darkness will come that will cover the entire Earth. Every evil spirit will roam freely, doing much harm to the souls that did not want to hear this message and to those who do not want to repent. Everything will be dark, and a great mystical cross will appear in the sky to remind us of the price that His Son paid for our redemption. Sister Lucia continues to relate what the Virgin entrusted to her:

Implore the following: "O God, forgive our sins, save us from the fire of hell, and take all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy."

Those who believe in the message that God sends and convey the message to others should not fear anything on the Great Day of the Lord.

Those who remain silent now will be responsible for this large number of souls lost due to ignorance.

When the Earth no longer trembles, those who still do not believe in our Lord will die horribly. The wind will bring gas and rain everywhere. Then the sun will rise. Many can live after this catastrophe, but once it starts, they should not look outside for any reason because God does not want any of His children to see when He punishes these sinners, He does not want them to see how they suffer, and He does not want them to see the pain that these evil people cause them.

It must be understood that God allows all this to happen, and it must be understood that God will punish all those who did not hear Him; this text says so, and that is why so much panic has been caused because God will unleash His uncontrollable anger against all those who are hurting the world.

Remember that the word of God is not a threat but good news, special; perhaps God allows it to be so because He wants to save them for Himself.

     Text Summary: The Third and Last Prophecy of the Virgin Fatima - Be Aware. According to Saint Lucia, the Virgin of Fatima prophesied in 1917 that the world would face sudden destruction and suffering around 2005. Lucia, one of the three children who witnessed the apparitions, revealed the message to Pope John Paul II in 2005 before her death. The message warned of a future where humanity, directed by evil, would face conflicts, natural disasters, diseases without cures, and wars between religious orders.

The Virgin Mary foretold a great punishment in the second half of the 20th century, including the manufacture of deadly weapons capable of destroying the world. The Earth would experience unprecedented natural phenomena, diseases, uncontrolled murders, and a lack of charity. The prophecy hinted at events before 2005, with increasing intensity thereafter. Lucia urged people to repent and seek forgiveness for their sins.

The revelation continued, predicting a time when a senseless war would trigger a nuclear disaster, resulting in darkness for 72 hours. Survivors, especially those who spread the Virgin of Fatima's prophecy, were advised not to fear but to prepare for a new era. Lucia emphasized the importance of staying indoors during the catastrophe, cautioning against trusting strangers who might exploit the situation.

Incorporating Global Events: The text, originating from a 1917 prophecy, does not specifically mention events like Covid-19, but its warnings about diseases without cures and natural disasters could be interpreted in the context of global health crises and climate change. Additionally, the mention of wars and conflicts aligns with on-going geopolitical tensions post-2005.

While the text doesn't directly reference specific dates for global events, the period it alludes to coincides with the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic (starting around 2019). Post-2005, various conflicts and wars have unfolded globally, contributing to the tumultuous landscape described in the prophecy.

SAISI