A few years back, Christien Meindertsma did a 3 year study on what happens to a 228-pound (104-kilogram) pig, known only as number 05049 when it’s finally sent to the slaughter house.

The results were startling.

Among the uses of pig 05049, according to Meindertsma, are certain varieties of the following products:

• Soap, shampoo, conditioner, cosmetics and toothpaste;

• Dough improver, which uses proteins from pig hair;

• Gelatin, which is used in low-fat foods as well as in cheesecake, vanilla pudding, chocolate mousse and tiramisu;

• Beer, wine and fruit juice, which can be filtered by using a gelatin sieve to clear out impurities;

• Bone china and paint, paintbrushes and sandpaper;

• Collagen to remove wrinkles and pig heart valves to replace defective human valves.

“What I learned from doing it is that the product world is more complicated then you can imagine and that we have no clue of what is in the products that surround us,” she told CNN. “Even if you are genuinely interested in what is in your products, it is extremely difficult and often impossible to find out.”

“The reason that I find this important is because I think we have a responsibility in what we consume, but it is hard to make a good choice when you have no idea of what is in a product.

“But, even without this knowledge, consumers could have a lot of power to change these systems if they wanted to. Companies just want to make a profit so if the demand changes they will start making other products.

“If consumers would make a choice to buy products that are transparent in what they are and who made them, that could be the standard.”

PIG 05049 from Christien Meindertsma on Vimeo.

After it’s death, Pig number 05049 was shipped in parts throughout the world. Some products remain close to their original form and function while others diverge dramatically. In an almost surgical way a pig is dissected in the pages of the book – resulting in a startling photo book where all the products are shown at their true scale.

Check out more of Christien Meindertsma’s work at http://www.christienmeindertsma.com/

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Interesting things you may not have heard of

• Mr PM. Are Malaysians being used as medical guinea pigs?
• About 90% of the human population has some sort of parasite, one time or another. Do you have parasites?
• Jason Mraz’s Travel Tip #3: Bring a Big Fucking Knife. What else would a half naked raw foodie do?
• Using safe, home made garbage enzymes instead of chemical detergents to clean your plates!

A few days ago, my children’s nanny, Ika, passed a beef dish over to the neighbor’s maid, also named Ika, who has not eaten meat in 2 years. Apparently, the family she stays with are very strict vegetarians. They don’t even eat onions and garlic.

Anyways, after she ate the beef, she broke out in rashes! It could only mean one thing. She’s allergic to beef !

Beef is an integral food for Indonesians, just like beef is something Americans eat all the time, like beef steaks and hamburger. So she’s going to have a hard time when she goes back home.

The problem is, she was never aware that she was allergic to beef …. at all. So it’s something good for her to know. Unsuspected allergies can cause multiple problems in the body if it’s not removed from the system. The body will try to fight the allergy, and the cells in the body will remain inflamed when it’s sick. And a sick body can shut down. The body will try to tell us something when it’s sick. You may get stomachaches, or maybe liver problems, maybe headaches, or worse cancer.

A lot of people have allergies, but they are not aware of it. And get surprised when they fall ill.

So listen to your body now. Don’t wait until there’s something seriously wrong before you act.

Jasmin

ps Finally, I got my own domain name. Do you like it? It needs a bit of sprucing, and I’m still learning how to use this sytem, which I admit, I’m not used to. I’m currently in the process of shifting my blog from http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/ so, meanwhile, please bear with me. You can still visit my old blog to read the old posts.