We Americans sure do like our food. Not only does the land of the Red, White and Blue have one of the higher rates of obesity of any industrialized nations, we feed our roads, too. The Missouri Department of Transportation has been solving its road ice problem with the help of beet juice. The product in question, Geomelt, is a sugar beet-based liquid, and according to the Boonville Daily News, MoDOT has increased its use by 700 percent since it was first introduced in the Show Me State in 2006. That's 242,000 gallons of the nutritious substance used in 2009, or more than 50,000 eight-ounce servings for every staff member at Dunder Mifflin. We're guessing it takes it takes more than 60 acres of beets to make 242,000 gallons of nature's de-icer.
While using food to combat road ice might not be ideal for the environment, it's likely better than the salt most states use. Salt gets into fresh water supplies, which can wreak havoc on groundwater quality. Besides, this is the only good use we can think of for beet juice, and we're thinking our man Dwight wouldn't be able to maintain his prized 1987 Pontiac Trans Am without the extra income.
[Source: Boonville Daily News | Image: NBC]
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