Scientists come up with the most ludicrous ideas sometimes. Dr Mustafa Farouk, of AgResearch, has found a new way to trick children in to eating meat. Now why on earth would anyone want to do that? Look a little closer and the answer is clear! AgResearch aims ‘to underpin the New Zealand pastoral sector’s sustainability and profitability’ and is run by a well-known sheep and beef farmer.

Apparently Dr Farouk accidentally discovered that mutton and beef can be formed into spaghetti-like strings.  A spokeman for AgResearch said “it tastes like meat and it can look like meat but we can actually change the composition of the product quite a lot so we can mask the meaty flavour”.

It gets worse. They have suggested that the meat spaghetti could be made out of cheap cuts of meat and are looking for a commerical partner in order to get this product in to supermarkets.

Now, tricking children in to eating their brocolli and brussell sprouts is one thing, but tricking them in to eating unethical, heart-attack and cancer inducing food is absolutely immoral.   Is there any limit to what the meat industry will do to promote their products?

The Federal Trade Commission of the USA recently revealed that the food industry spends $1.6 billion a year targeting children. Fast-food restaurants spent nearly $294 million on promotions aimed at young children and teens despite concrete evidence from American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund to show that processed meat causes colorectal cancer.

In an attempt to protect children from cancer, the Cancer Project is airing an ad in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C asking for schools to remove hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages and other processed meats off their menus. Many schools still serve these foods for both breakfast and lunch.

The Milk Processor Education Program spent about $67 million on advertising in 2006, including their ‘Got Milk?’ campaign featuring celebrities such as Heroes’ cheerleader Hayden Panettiere, Sheryl Crow, Elizabeth Hurley and Beyonce. You’ve just got to take a look at their ridiculous milk mustaches in the ads to know they were paid a lot of money to promote milk. Many studies have shown that dairy products cause allergies, contribute to obesity and osteoporosis and are linked to heart disease and cancer; but with the massive amount of money that the milk industry puts into telling us milk is good for us, the truth is seldom heard.

How much were you paid to look this stupid?

Children who start off in life as obese often struggle for the rest of their lives to reduce their weight. It’s so important that children learn good, healthy dietary habits which will continue in to their adults lives. McDonalds and the like aren’t stupid, they know if they get children hooked now they have customers for life. Well, at least until they get cancer or heart disease.

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