Today is National Cold Cuts Day. A day for lunch meats and deli meats. This day is observed annually on March 3rd.
If you love eating sandwiches with cold meats, this is your day. Nowadays, you can find deli meats not only at your local store but also on your favorite sandwich shops.
Cold cuts are luncheon meats are meats that are precooked and cured, often sausages or meat loaves, that are sliced and served cold or hot on sandwiches or on party trays. You can buy them pre-sliced in vacuum packs at supermarkets, or you can purchase them at your nearest deli shops, which can be sliced to order.
Most pre-sliced lunch meats are higher in fat, nitrates, and sodium than those that are sliced to order, as a larger exposed surface requires stronger preservatives. That is why processed meats may significantly contribute to the incidence of heart disease and diabetes, even more so than red meat.
Studies show about 400 thousand people across Europe, showed a positive association between processed meat consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Similarly, a prospective study in the US following half a million people flagged a similar association between death and increased processed meat consumption.
Nowadays, you can find a variety type of cold cuts or luncheon meats, from Ham, Bologna, to poultry products like turkey and chicken. Do you love cold cuts? What is your favorite? Whatever cold cuts, grab yourself some and make yourself a healthy sandwich for dinner. Share on social media your favorite using #ColdCutDay.
1879 United States Geological Survey created
Congress establishes the United States Geological Survey, an organization that played a pivotal role in the exploration and development of the West.
Although the rough geographical outlines of much of the American West were known by 1879, the government still had astonishingly little detailed knowledge of the land. Earlier federal exploratory missions under men like Ferdinand Hayden and John Wesley Powell had begun to fill in the map, yet much remained to be done. Congress decided to transform the earlier system of sporadic federal geological explorations into a permanent government agency, the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
From the beginning, the USGS focused its efforts on practical geographical and geological investigations that might spur western economic development. Since the vast majority of the nation’s public land was in the West, the USGS became one of the federal government’s most important tools for encouraging the exploitation of western natural resources. Congress appointed Clarence King, a brilliant young mining engineer, and geologist, as the first director. King, who had previously done considerable work for western mining companies, viewed the USGS as a tool for aiding further mineral exploitation. As a result, the first major reports produced under King’s tenure concerned the economic geology of two important mining districts, Nevada’s Comstock Lode and Colorado’s Leadville silver district.
(excerpted from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-geological-survey-created)
