US Meat Plants Violating Mad Cow Rules - Inspectors (Reuters)

[Wonk]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. meat plants are allowing brains and spinal cord from older cattle to enter the food supply, violating strict government regulations aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease, a federal meat inspectors union said on Monday.

Nearly a year after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, meat plants have yet to implement measures required by the U.S. Agriculture Department to protect consumers, said the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals.

"We are seeing little to no change at these plants," said Stan Painter, the union's chairman.

more...

[evolvenow]

1. Veggie burgers people...please..

Going veggie could end world-wide starvation, conserve our limited water supply, end heart disease and many cancers...plus it tastes great and is the only sane and healthy way to live in this world with compassion.:)

[truthpusher]

21. PETA Video link...warning very graphic!

...one more reason...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=18113&mesg_id=18113

[LibertyorDeath]

39. Veggie burgers are awesome Yves Veggie burgers Yum!

I haven't had beef in any form including Beef Gelatin found in many products for over 10 years I don't miss it & I feel great.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

2. they got that new thing here- where you can kill your own cow

Here near Twin Falls Idaho (actually in the town of Filer)
They charge a hundred dollars to get in, then you pay by the pound.
Free Range organic.
They got a guy there who cuts it for you when you're done and you can watch and make sure he does it right..
I won't buy from a store.














just kidding

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. You scared me!

:)

[msgadget]

32. ROFL!

Man, I was horrified at the idea of someone watching a cow get killed and then hauling home the still warm flesh. :puke:

[NuttyFluffers]

40. We actually have that in the Bay Area, my aunt does it.

near San Jose, just outside of it. you pick the animal you want (along with several other families if it's too big) and then they slaughter it, you buy as much as you want (usually in bulk, no 1/2 pound parcels here, we're talking 15-70 pounds etc). it's cheaper, you can watch the butchering (if you want), and it is free range, no antibiotics, etc. (i forgot to mention that you can kill it yourself if you'd like. several ethnic communities when want to have a feast of whole animals, but due to religious restrictions can't just have anyone kill it any which way. so sometimes they'd have the occasional customer allowed to butcher it, in a clean and well equipped premise on the site of course.)

beef, lamb, mutton, goat, chicken, turkey, etc. it's a pretty good service i think. the only problem is dealing with 50+ pounds of meat in the freezer. another refridgerator helps. so, to surprise you, your lil' joke is true. (and the meat tastes pretty great!)
:D

i knew a "vegetarian" acquaintence who ate like an omnivore, but usually ate as a vegetarian. he was pretty insistent that he had to kill the animal and prepare it if he was going to eat the meat. when he went back to puerto rico he'd kill his own chickens, goats, etc. if he wanted meat, but at college he couldn't raise his own so he went vegetarian. at first i was confused, but now i understand. it's part fear of unclean preparation and a sense of respect for the animal's sacrifice, so eating meat is a rare and special occasion when he has it.

also i love venison. whenever a friend or family goes hunting they'd naturally keep the meat and smoke, jerky, cure, freeze, and make sausage out of it. quite delicious meat.

though wasteful slaughter and sadistic abuse of animals does not please me. i find those high density corrals for meat a cruel thing and just inviting biological disaster. parasites are opportunistic things... they only need a chance, and we offer them plenty in that husbandry style.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

45. should have seen the post I had that got deleted by the mods !

That one took the joke a bit further and was actually believable.
The mods deleted it because it offended someone.

I understand that these types of killing farms exist.
It's really not funny but I thought I'd present it sarcasticly.

I have to ask, if we surround ourselves in blood on a daily basis, whether we kill or allow others to kill for us, should we be confused when bloody and awful tragedies strike close to us?
(anything from murder to mad cow disease)

As some might say, you get what you give.

Sounds whacky to superficial thinkers, and I can totally understand how some people can't draw parallels between what they "participate" in and what "happens" to them as individuals much less what happens to them as a group.

My take is that if we want a so called "modern" society, then we should damn well give up on the traditions of our "pre- modern" past.

Technology has long ago surpassed the need to take animals as a primary food source, and that "need" has now evolved into a "want"--our pleasure ("taste" at their expense).

If Americans care and respect all life (not just some animals like pets and not just American lives) then all Americans are more likely to experience respect and care in their lives.
Sounds insane doesn't it.

What's really insane is the fact that we humans horde dimembered body parts in most of our buildings. If you had X-ray vision you'd see the billions of parts scattered throughout all our cities. It's almost like science fiction.

Animals eat animals. It ensures the survival of the most physically fit of each species. If we want to emphasise our animal nature (that is our heritage) then we should do the same.
If we want to emphasise our higher nature as humans (that is our potential), then we need not behave as animals do, at least if we expect to experience a quality of existance higher than that of animals.
wow, crazy ideas---
us omnivores have a choice by nature--(usually)

But I don't doubt that we may eventually see arenas again with Gladiators for our pleasure. We may eventually have an abunance of killing farms for our pleasure (wait..we already do-- for the pleasure of taste), and that might easily go a step further into a type of "Soylent Green" scenario when the population expodes and the facist supremests are allowed to decide which humans deserve a place on the planet and which ones deserve to be dinner for us or fodder for our livestock (why bury perfectly good meat?)
Mad Cow is a result of Nature's re-coil-
Nature is a powerfully intelligent force.

What's the difference between eating a dog or a cow?
What's the difference between eating a cow or a human?

Do we or do we not walk a fine line?

[NuttyFluffers]

47. :) metaphysical time? nah, don't feel like it today. maybe later though.

i understand what you are trying to convey. it is an interesting trail of thinking to meander on. but i believe it has more to do with the understanding of the sacrifice.

like me. i have *huge* issues with modern agriculture and synthesizing of products into bizarre forms (like overuse of corn syrup and creation of transfats and introduction of it into *everything*). i believe, if to follow your train of thought, it is the 'vengeance' of the abuse of plants, whom i care quite deeply about -- often more than animals (personal thing, don't want any flames about my personal feelings). the fake, artificial-chemical saturated fertilizers, the monocultures (one *big* crop smothering out all other life), the pesticides, the herbicides, the hyper-processing into bizarre forms (olestra, veggie shortening, margarine, "extracted kelp proteins fortified with extra vitamins!", the genetic manipulation, etc. all of that deeply concerns me just as much as the overcrowded slop farms. it's all bad.

vegetarian or otherwise, as long as you are ignorantly part of the system, blithely not trying to change things, then you are part of the problem for me. i don't care how many fluffy bunnies are saved, raping whole prarie ecosystems for your mass-produced soy mcnuggets doesn't get you off the hook with me. but then i'm also pragmatic. i understand that it is not a all-or-nothing thing. sometimes there's no choice but to be 70% committed at times. either money's tight, there's no positive option nearby, or there's just not enough information available (or conversely, too much information to be absorbed), you can only work with what limited human capacity you have.

that's why i like those 'do-it-yourself' slaughter farms. you get in touch with the realities of food (life's dirty, gritty, messy, and unfortunately there's no way around that. can't 'golden child' yourself into living off of a sprig of basil and float over shit,). then you start to appreciate sacrifice. you learn to develop compassion for the horrors you *must commit* as a living thing (yes, there really is no way around it), and that compassion is such a valuable lesson.it helps keeps civilization grounded, and a grounded civilization cannot as easily commit horrors without feeling it hurt themselves. also those farms have a safer condition of food preparation as well as raising of animals.

PS: i am staunchly 100% against the buddhist notion of plants being 'ok to eat because they aren't really reincarnated souls.' i find it the height of hubris. and i find the jainist notion trying to live as fructarians as ridiculous for the majority of humanity. (for those who believe -- apologies. but i'm being honest why i can never follow such paths. they just do not gel with my path) besides, after studying their history, i know they aren't holier than thou. they had empires, holy assassins, and great wars just like any other religion, you just don't hear it in their PR. no one is innocent, and our penance is life. i'm just firmly grounded in the demands of destructiveness life entails. i know it is just part of the 'human condition,' and can come to terms with it. but, to come to terms with it, i must come to understand the sacrifice, and appreciate its nightmare. that is my path, and to follow with forgiveness, compassion, and love helps me cope. i just find the selfish evil, be it callous wastefulness or vain-glorious self-righteousness, to be the real sin.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

49. U.S.=6% of World population/ U.S. consumes 60% of World's beef-Meta That

interesting fact.
U.S.A. home of the lard asses.
Never enough goodies to gather.

agree, with what you say about wastefulness, self righteousness--not good things-

I like the Apocalyse Now ideology-Marlon Brando-"you must make a friend of horror"..great movie--

but..the "we've always done it that way" idea (that "sacrifice" thing you mention)...interesting-
Sure everything eats everything here, that's our history.
The idea of "sacrifice" is cool, sure it is, unless the sacrifice is yourself or your friend.
Animals are my friends. Foreigners are my friends. i am my friend. Lettuce is not my friend (we can't relate).
Un-necessary killing is different than "un-avoidable" killing.(from cows to Iraqis)
Life on earth is destructive, sure, but for civilized people to think they have no control over human destiny is just a ticket for reckless lawlessness.
Philosophies vary - there is no "right" path because each is flawed in some way.
(hard to find a system without a history with some dirt or hypocrisy)

The idea we should just deal with certain disgusting behaviors because nothing can be done because it's all part of the human condition--disagree--

The problem I have is with the "we've always done it this way" as a justification for anything-(saying the sacrifice element is just part of the human condition-is saying "we've always done it this way" or "that's just how it is".)
same argument used to preserve slavery in the 1850's.
same argument used to prevent women from voting.
same argument used to preserve segregation.
same argument used for apartheid.
same argument used throughout history by those reluctant to separte from what they're familiar with.
we all know this -no big deal-just thought I'd mention it.
My point is we don't have to shy away from not supporting what we feel is wrong because we feel it might not help much anyway.

Sure we live in hell, but I don't accept the idea that we are always killing something anyway so we really have no obligation to examine our methods.


edited for spelling

[NuttyFluffers]

50. i don't understand your idea of sacrifice.

mine does not equal to "because we've always done it that way." honestly it seems like a 'talking at cross purposes' rant. perhaps using the dictionary definition might help: american heritage 2a. the forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have greater value or claim.... 3a. the relinqushment of somethingat less than its persumed value. :) better?

i know perfectly well there will come my time to sacrifice, and i haven't a problem with that. will i grieve? yes. would i have preferred it could have been different? yes. would i actively change things if i could? yes. but then comes the point that there is nothing left except this choice. that's why i find waste particularly saddening.

about that friends thing. cool, lettuce isn't your friend. it is mine. :) i love my lettuce. can't relate? i can. sometimes more than certain humans (try some loopy selfish death cultists, very hard to relate to). but i'm sensible about it. are all cows my friend? no, impossible, i cannot be everywhere at once. some have horrible temperments, and would prefer to trample me. are all humans my friends? no, impossible, several in fact would perfer to watch me die, slowly. are all plants my friends? no, impossible, they are guided by the same impulse that moves all life. if they had to they'd defend themselves (and they have learned to do so). but all life is my friends, in a grand, unrealistic sense. and i am also ok with brutality of life to sustain my own existence. there'll come the time that my sacrifice will come.

i don't understand your "disgusting behaviors" issue. i find nothing morally positive or negative about the necessary and mundane act of obtaining food. though i find torture, abuse, and grotesque manipulation unnecessary in the act of obtaning food, revealing a cancerous inner nature. but this applies to flora and fauna to me. may not to you, but it definitely does to me (and plenty others). you are right, we should examine our methods, but i just seek to examine all methods, because the nightmarous cancer has infiltrated everything.

go ahead and support how you feel to change the system, in your own way. it is good. i try to do the same in my life. but that said, i don't have unreasonable expectations of myself or others. i can live with 70% success on a regular basis, or some 50%+ effort thereof. essentially it's grounded expectations with hope for the better and forgiveness for those who have moments of failings. we, as americans, tend to have a bad habit of binary reactions, it's either complete unflagging optimism, almost to the point of zealotry, or complete cynical pessimism, almost to the point of escapism. it is unhealthy i believe. things can improve, yes, but let us not compare ourselves to utopic ideals; we could only fail while torturing ourselves along the way (and torture is bad, by the way ;) )

the lessons of love, forgiveness, compassion, and hope are deeply important to stay sane on any path. otherwise one could be consumed in any direction and be wholly destructive to themselves or those around them. that is why it has saddened me to meet belligerant, militant vegans in my time. i've left shaking my head like i do with so many young idealists overdoing any particular path. their energy is admirable, but how can you help those who cannot and do not want to see? and then, how can you hold it against them being who they are? :) such is life, you just try to minimize the damage where you can and hopefully leave someone with a smile.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

56. it's your idea not mine-believe what you will

really it's ok
I agree that striving for utopian ideas can lead to torturting yourself and guilt when you fail in certain areas.
Minimalizing the suffering is all we can ever do.
We live in the Lord of the Flies not the Lord of the Rings.

The examining of our "methods" is across the board- from our "method" of justifying our actions-> to the actual actions--//from taking over countries to taking over bodies of animals

just because i love all animals doesn't mean anyone else has to.


interesting post -
minimalizing the damage.
That's all you can do.

(And vegans aren't uppity and superior in general-they can make people feel guilty by simply existing-->)

everyone sees things they way they see them depending on what they've learned.


peace

[NuttyFluffers]

59. ... and plants :D

"The examining of our "methods" is across the board- from our "method" of justifying our actions-> to the actual actions--//from taking over countries to taking over bodies of animals" ... and plants :D

give some love to my plants. :D

and yes, vegans aren't a monolithic group of uppity individuals. like all people they are a range, a spectrum of humanity, representing such diversity. but living in the SF Bay Area i've met more than my fair share of zealots, from all persuasions, as well. always left me bristled or saddened, those zealots did. if there was something real such as a 'chill pill' i'd really perscribe it -- sometimes all that tension becomes poisonous.

I dig what a game has the archangel of creation say as his mandating rules to his servitors:
"Do what thoust wilt -- but be cool."
a very sagacious style of living.
:D

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

63. crowley is misunderstood

do what thoust will

doesn't mean do whateverthe hell you want

means be thoughtful and willing in your every deed

no room for ignore-ance here

don't agree with midwestern geek singers either-it's all an act-I know for a fact

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Our government is mad!

And failing its responsibility at the most basic level -- protecting the health and safety of the citizenry --

[0007]

5. This has been going on for years. Why do you think junior

and his thugs and the rich rich are half nuts? Chicken and pigs may also have an effect on one's health. :shrug:

[njdemocrat106]

41. It would probably take the death of a GOP'er

from Mad Cow disease in order for any strict guidelines concerning the meat industry to be put into place under this administration. :(

[Freebird12004]

6. read "Deadly Feast"

If the animal is sick - ALL of the products from that animal are contaminated.

[InvisibleTouch]

8. "Deadly Feasts" - yes indeed.

I've been worried about mad cow disease ever since I "read" this book on tape during a cross-country drive several years ago. The truth of the matter is that this disease, or something very like it, has existed in this country for years and has been covered up, all for the sake of greed. It's only now coming to light because the incidents are getting too numerous to ignore. And it's not only found in cows.

Here is the Amazon link to the book by Richard Rhodes:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684844257/qid=1103651690/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-4994410-3717737

It's well worth the read.

I don't eat much meat myself, but I give my dogs raw beef, so I've been following the mad cow incidents very closely. Can't always afford free-range organic meat, so I do the next best thing - I buy only slabs or chunks of muscle meat, never ground. Nervous and spinal tissue is the worst threat, which is why you should never buy ground beef. The machines that pick every last shred of meat off the carcass, often pull in bits of the spine as well. If you need ground beef, select a slab of muscle meat and have the butcher grind it for you right there in the store.

I'm also worried about the bone meal supplement that my dogs get. Bone meal often comes from "downer" cattle. Bad news also if you use it for fertilizer. My supplier is a pretty reliable company (Solid Gold), but I just don't trust it anymore, and will be switching to eggshells or some other source, when my current supply is gone.

[salin]

7. Remember - the Dept of Agriculture moved to PREVENT

small companies from inspecting each animal for Mad Cow (as is done in Japan). The companies saw it as a marketing tool. Big business saw it as a threat - and they didn't want to have to compete (eg pay the money to do the same inspections - even though they would pay no more per head than those small companies were planning to spend.) When they moved to PREVENT businesses from doing this - the "truth" about the Dept of Ag - that it had no interest in consumer protection, or promotion of family/small farms - was never more apparrant. Sadly the stories never got much media play.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. But they did get into the NYT and were featured widely

For example, some turned up as lead tites in Yahoo and AOL news summaries. I saved some of the articles on my hard drive. If you like, I can post the links to them later if I also remembered to save the URLs and the articles are still available online.

[salin]

14. that would be great (links)

it gets at so much of what is wrong with this administration:

free market? No - regulating such that businesses cannot adopt certain practices (that are MORE safe than others) in order to develop a niche market.

protecting the consumer? No - decisions were made to disallow the practice of inspecting each animal (as is done in other countries) because the bigger industrial farms didn't want to have to do the same thing - safety loses - even those who want to go the safer route are prevented, by big business and the government, from doing so.

protecting farmers? No - only big agribusiness as the two items above indicate.

These are the types of issues that are SO indefensible that put several side by side to moderate voters - and ask if this really what they think our government should be doing, and ask WHO this administration and congress represent - that gets passed the "oh, thats propoganda" and to "really..." and a slightly more opened mind that starts paying attention the next time stories like this get into the press.

[Nothing Without Hope]

27. Here's one - I can give excerpts but don't have the URL

The copyright is by The New York Times, but I didn't save the URL when I downloaded it last April. I do have the article date and title, so you should be able to find it in the Times archives. (I don't want to register.) I have a lot of articles on Mad Cow saved on my hard drive and will see if there are others that seem particularly germane. If I find any, I'll post again.
--------------------------------------------------------------

April 10, 2004

U.S. Won't Let Company Test All Its Cattle for Mad Cow
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

The Department of Agriculture refused yesterday to allow a Kansas beef producer to test all of its cattle for mad cow disease, saying such sweeping tests were not scientifically warranted.

The producer, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wanted to use recently approved rapid tests so it could resume selling its fat-marbled black Angus beef to Japan, which banned American beef after a cow slaughtered in Washington State last December tested positive for mad cow. The company has complained that the ban is costing it $40,000 a day and forced it to lay off 50 employees.

The department's under secretary for marketing and regulation, Bill Hawks, said in a statement yesterday that the rapid tests, which are used in Japan and Europe, were licensed for surveillance of animal health, while Creekstone's use would have "implied a consumer safety aspect that is not scientifically warranted."

Lobbying groups for cattle ranchers and slaughterhouses applauded the decision, but consumer advocates denounced it, saying the department was preventing Creekstone from taking extra steps to prove its product was safe.

(snip - there is about twice as much as above remaining in the article.)

[warrens]

16. It didn't just move to prevent

It refused to sell Creekstone and others the test kits. Only USDA can sell them, and they simply said no, because the guys who give the big bucks to Smirking Sociopath said so.

It's all right-wing politics, all the time at USDA.

This latest one is a VERY simple problem to solve. Simply take all SRMs (specified risk materials like eyeballs, tonsils and the spinal cord and brain) out of the food supply, no matter what the age of the animal. But that would cut the renderers and pet food makers out of the mix. And they give lots of money to Smirking Sociopath too.

This is the most corrupt, greedy, selfish and ideologically insane administration in history.

[Megahurtz]

10. Same old dishonest corporate greed

they don't care what happens to anyone as long as it's putting the almighty dollar in their pockets.
No wonder this country looks like a bunch of idiots to the outside world.:crazy:
Who can really trust the U.S. in it's present state?

[tavalon]

17. Since you asked

Halliburton. That's about it.

[Massachusetts]

11. McMooooooo

[TrogL]

12. Maybe it's time to open the border to Canadian beef

At least we're making some attempt to have proper feed.

[Tinoire]

28. Or is it maybe an attempt to have a scapegoat

so that we can say the contaminated beef is Canadian but that we're working with them and all the hand-wringing that will follow ;)

[daleo]

43. I have my doubts

After reading the Vancouver Sun's story about how over half of all feed bags they tested that were labeled "vegetable matter only" had identifiable animal products in them. Note - this was true of both domestic feed and imported (i.e. U.S.) feed.

[TrogL]

55. oops, missed that one

:-(

[DS1]

13. God American businesses are fucking dumb

Always thinking about the short-term :eyes:

[Coventina]

15. As Gomer Pyle says...

Sooprize Sooprize Sooprize!!!

:eyes:

(man, I'm using the eyes a lot today)

[ZanZaBar]

18. Just come to terms that ...

if you have eaten a meat product in the past 20 years, you most likely have Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or will be developing it shortly.

Enjoy the dementia!!

[amazona]

19. yeah that's why everyone in the U.K. is bonkers

Less than 200 people have ever developed symptoms. We can look at the U.K. where they were telling us in the 1980s that everyone would be dead and demented by now...and somehow they're still standing.

I understand the concern, and I support the testing of all beef, but it is not because any but a minority of people with certain genetic structure are ever going to develop this disease.

[ZanZaBar]

20. Heh

Certain genetic structure.. would that be


a) has a brain?

b) is alive?


Yes! You meet the criteria!
As for the people in the U.K., I bet the alcoholism probably did them in first. = P

Enjoy the dementia..

[amazona]

36. there's a rare genetic marker that has been IDed

By the way, I just visited the U.K. and I can assure you that neither alcoholism nor mad cow has done them in. They are wealthier than we in the U.S. now, with the pound so strong that they can fly to New York and Miami to do their Christmas shopping.

Mad Cow is a tragedy for the less than 200 people on the planet who have developed it but the predictions that thousands, much less millions, would be affected has proved to be hysteria.

And, yes, I did eat ground beef in the U.K. in 1982 -- over 22 years ago. I do not have dementia. Sorry to disappoint anyone.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

46. no dementia "yet" at least

and just because it doesn't kill you doesn't mean it won't kill others.
A friendly little game of Russian Roulette.

[Richard Steele]

57. CJD is killing THOUSANDS every year, undiagnosed and unreported

Four million Alzheimers patients in the US;
two studies of autopsied brains found 5% and 13% were actually CJD.

http://www.rense.com/general46/many.html

Even with the low 5% figure, that's 20,000 Americans with Mad Cow eating holes in their brains.....

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ZanZaBar]

53. You've all become too bitter for humor.

<EOM>

[happynewyear]

22. they are feeding ground up spinal cords of cows to chicken

and it is a well known company doing it too. Can you say "Foster Farms" - completely natural chicken. :puke:

How do I know this? I called them on the phone and asked them what they fed their chickens and they told me this.

Good luck.

Mad cow is out there! :scared:

[warrens]

23. Just to make it worse

They then grind up what is affectionately known as poultry litter and feed it back to the cows. It's supposed to be illegal now, but it still happens.

[bain_sidhe]

24. Creekstone Farms

Creekstone Farms is a 'high end" beef producer and processor. When they wanted to test 100% of their cattle for Mad Cow disease, the USDA wouldn't let them. The reason? Consumers might doubt the safety of beef that is not tested. If that sounds like a rejection of the "free market" philosophy, well, you must be mistaken. I mean, "caveat emptor" has nothing to do with giving the "emptor" enough information with which to "caveat," right?

See a copy of their letter to the USDA here:
http://www.creekstonefarmspremiumbeef.com/csf_response.html

and check out their 'market oriented" response to being prevented from testing:

http://www.creekstonefarmspremiumbeef.com/naturalrelease.html

[salin]

25. as I said up thread...

this is one of those powerful stories that makes the uninformed fence sitters, sit up and take notice.

[bain_sidhe]

29. Sorry, it took me too long to find the links!

By the time I hit "post" on the above post, several people had already mentioned the Creekstone Farms case. Oh, well, a little repetition never hurts, right? Just as the reich-wing propaganda-meisters.

[ExclamationPoint]

26. That's why I don't eat red meat

I don't like to annoy people by asking them why they do, but I don't understand what is appetizing about it if you know this.

[NYC]

30. Boycott unclean meat.

I don't think it is too much to ask for cleanliness in our food. Mad Cow is not the only problem. Read about current meat processing conditions.

Utterly disgusting. If you knew the utterly repulsive things in the food, you could not eat it. Greed. It is cheaper and more profitable to serve us unclean food.

If everyone boycotted meat, the meat industry would have to take the time to handle meat cleanly, use only healthy animals, etc.

Boycott. It is the only power you have.

[goforit]

31. I stopped eating beef 14 years ago.......Its easy and never miss it!!

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

37. likewise-it's been no problem-& the grocers meat dept grosses me out

looks like dismembered body parts to me when i look over at the meat dept.
I always walk past quickly and look the other way.
Cows are the most loving mothers of all animals and calves are as cute as puppies.
Why the hell would I eat them?
cannablism.

[CrispyQ]

54. I have mapped out routes through the grocery store ...

to avoid the meat dept. Disgusting. I also frequently request that the checker wipe down the conveyor belt before placing my groceries on it, especially if there is anything liquid on it.

[DemGa]

33. I eat fish once in a while

But no other meat for 16 yrs. One of the best decisions I've ever made. I remember before I stopped, I had chronic, severe heartburn. Haven't had a problem with it since.

[warrens]

34. this is getting ugly

I happen to write about food and the USDA guy went OFF when I called him. The meat industry is circling the wagons, screaming it's all politics. But the truth is, they are starting to privatize food inspection. They don't want to give more authority to the inspectors; the administration believes in self-regulation. When you have a smart company, it works. Purity of food is their only protection. But for the scamsters and thugs that inhabit every industry, it is a license to do whatever the fuck they want.

I think this story is going to have legs. The guy at the union, Stan, is a bit of a character, but his point is not really refutable.

If you want the technical point, it is that MOST plants have multiple ways to establish age of animals. Over 30 months, their brains and spinal cord and other offal cannot be put into the food chain in any way. It has to be removed and destroyed. We are putting in an Animal ID system within the next year or two, and at that point every animal will have a "birth certificate." Meanwhile, though, in many cases the only way to determine a cow's age is by examining its teeth and bones. In the case of bones, it would obviously be too late. So teeth it is, and it is fairly accurate.

Inspectors do not do age verification. But a lot of them know how to do it, and they are catching cattle going through the line that are identified as under 30 months that are clearly older. At least five reports have been filed, maybe more, of just coincidentally discovered mistakes.

This is going to be a nasty, ugly fight, and the meat people and USDA will probably lose. There is no excuse for not confirming the age of animals when it is easy to do. If you leave it to some random plant employee, who may or may not know what the hell he is doing (there are no training requirements for the job), you are begging for mistakes.

Large players in the industry don't want written requirements for the job. And they don't want inspectors doing it either. They don't like the inspectors as a rule and they certainly don't want them to have more power.

The nut in this case is that at least five reports have been filed and USDA had to have seen them. Bush has made it impossible to get documents on FOIA in less than a year or two. But there are other ways...the USDA and American Meat Institute are basically screaming PROVE IT. And the proof is coming in the next couple of days.

To me, this is not really about food safety. It's about destroying the infrastructure that produces food safety. Even if we have a few mad cows floating around, which is likely, it is not a dire threat to the American people.

Like the air traffic controllers, the FDA pharmaceutical group, and any other federal agency you can think of, they want to reduce all power and turn the employees into Wal-mart drones. They are over-reaching and they are going to fuck up bigtime sooner or later. The FDA fuckup is just the tip of the iceberg.

[msgadget]

35. Yes, but you're giving me hope

by saying the USDA and meat industry will 'likely lose'. Over the past decade the public, imo, has been the loser, what makes you think they won't get away with it this time?

[warrens]

38. smoke and mirrors

Only work for so long. Do not get me wrong. I don't think this is a BIG danger, but it is a danger. And if I ran an industry, I would make sure that the easy stuff was taken care off. So this will be all over the place for a while. And they will have to react.

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Old Mouse]

48. more than the meat industry

Our whole economic system is now moving toward suicide. The Beef Industry.. from the Chairman of the Board to the farmer on the range... are willing to fill our food supply with deadly unstoppable poisons, and our government swoops in to protect THEM, not the consumer? A niche industry built on willingly poisoning our very food? Will this madness end only when each and every one of us is dead?

Revoke the corporate charter. India has the right idea. Criminal charges for those at the top.

[Karenina]

51. There's $$$PROFIT$$$

in population reduction.

[Danger Duck]

52. Question?

Our McNuggets considered meat?

[ashmanonar]

58. i doubt it n/t

[left15]

60. McMeat

They're McMeat!!!

[Karenina]

61. Yuck!!

:puke:

[Deja Q]

62. Why are people shocked? In corporate america, the dollar has precedence.

No more moo for me.