MSNBC just announced a nationwide voluntary meat recall tomorrow

[NNN0LHI]

Said Reuters was quoting a USDA official.

[TrueAmerican]

1. Why wait until tomorrow?

What's going on?

[Jack_Dawson]

2. So much for my Atkins cookbook...

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. Mad Cow

And I have a roast marinaing in the fridge :-(

[MacCovern]

18. Your Roast will be fine!

From what I've heard, "Mad Cow" applies to ground beef products, but not steak, etc.

Enjoy your roast! Sounds delicious.

[Rainbowreflect]

31. Sorry, I don't think that is true.

Mad Cow is in all the meat.
Certain types of food poisioning are more likely in ground meats because they have more surface area, but mad cow is in the whole cow.

[Frodo]

48. No. MacCovern is correct.

There haven't been any identified cases from whole cuts of beef. Muscle tissue has not been shown to be capable of transmitting the disese. It's brain or nerve tissue that is the problem... and obviously that is more likely to be found in ground beef.

Worse might be that beef carcases are often ground into hog & chicken feed. I have no idea if we need to start worrying about ALL of our meats.

Regardless, I'm going to need to see more than one case out of millions of cows before I panic about never going to LoneStar again. :-)

[hlthe2b]

57. Recent studies have shown high prion levels in other muscle tissue in

mouse models, raising concern for cattle and sheep. See this article on research by Nobel Prize winning researcher:


Muscle and flesh of cattle and sheep may harbour deadly levels of prions that cause variant CJD. This stark prospect, raised by the Nobel Prize winner who first discovered that these infective particles can cause brain illnesses, suggests eating meat may still pose a serious health risk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/bse/article/0,2763,851547,00.html

We just can not say for sure at this point.

[tedzbear]

84. Yes steaks CAN be infected...

If the brain or spinal matter spills onto the rest of the cow during processing, then it's infectious. These prions are smaller than viruses and they don't "die" like viruses do. They survive for a long time outside of their host. That's why cattle feed made out of ground up infected animals transmits it.

[Mairead]

100. "It's brain or nerve tissue that is the problem"

Muscle tissue is full of nerves.

Capitalism and carnivorism...a bad combination.

[trogdor]

123. The worst part is,...

...the pound of hamburger you buy at the supermarket is likely to contain parts of God only knows how many different animals. Thus, only one cow has to be sick to infect entire lots of product.

Enjoy your Gardenburger.

[cryofan]

51. umm...no...the prion is only in the central nervous system

and so therefore it does not generally get into the whole cuts of meat. However, because our govt has given over control of the country to corporations to such a great degree, the renderers often contaminate ground meat with CNS matter...hence the possible prion contamination which cause CJD....

[hlthe2b]

59. Not true. See my post above with recent research

[hlthe2b]

46. NO! you are thinking of E. coli 0157:H7

Hamburger is largely at risk for this bacteria because it comes from contamination with intestinal matter, which occurs when meat is ground.

That does not apply to "Mad Cow." All beef would pose a risk if the cow was infected.

[Sugarbleus]

78. Dang, that's pretty sad, Rose...sorry

Was the news piece on today? Have to go look. Lucky I only bought Chicken and New Zealand lamb lately.

[Mr.Green93]

4. I'll take some

[Mountainman]

5. Being a vegetarian pays off all the time

I never have to worry about bad meat. To me it's all bad meat and I don't eat it.

[bicentennial_baby]

6. Yep

[DemoTex]

14. Think I'll be joining you, MM.

Fish is foul, fowl is not fair, and beef has trouble in the air. Eggplant anyone?

[bicentennial_baby]

I love Eggplant

Seriously, I do! :bounce:

[Journeyman]

17. Until you get Hepatitis A. . .

from contaminated onions.

Ah, corporate agriculture. Loads of benefits. . . a plethora of potentialities.

[bicentennial_baby]

19. Grow your own

That's what I do...

[Journeyman]

23. As do I. . .

but it's not quite an option for the vast majority. And truth be told, there's no way we could grow enough to satisfy all of my family's needs.

[bicentennial_baby]

24. I know

I hate buying produce in the winter...

[0007]

73. Especially tomatoes!

[DemoTex]

32. Me too, baby!

Big garden here in the mountains, with fruit trees and grape arbor. I did not get it early enough this year to can vegetables, but next year! Garden, deep-well water, generator, ham radio, and a location Al Queda will never find! Actually, the weak link is the nuke plant at Keowee, just to the south. However, I have a couple of ridges between it and me and a good, earth-protected basement. Life is good.

In fact, this is old moonshine country. I actually live on a two-track road called White Whiskey Way. If things get too bad, I'll grow some corn and make some likker. Gawg Damm these bib overalls are comfy!

[bicentennial_baby]

45. That beautiful place in NC?

You lucky dawg! You'll be planting a lot earlier than me, up here in Massachusetts! :hi:

[Lorien]

95. Nothing like home grown veggies

and fruits! My Grandparents always had a table full of fresh-from-the-garden fare; so much more flavor than the store bought stuff! I envy all of you with home gardens. Enjoy!

[librechik]

33. terror?

it could happen--in "the rural SW" and "affect you all in your homes"

sorry--just sayin...the timing is pretty notable, that's all...

[DemoTex]

56. Do you think they might strike near Rosman, NC?

By near I mean at least nine miles away in the absolute wilds.

Wait! Wait! I hear someone in the woods! Maybe it's Al Queada!

Nevermind. It was just Nick-the-Quick returning from a romp. Young Nick. He's slick. And quick!

[librechik]

58. I so envy you

if I ever get some bucks together, I'm going to get me one of those self sufficient homesteads in the country. DemoTex, you know how to live!

Rosman is the last place they'd pick, I bet.

[DemoTex]

63. Look, Librechik

Get good guard dogs. Like Nick-the-Quick and Sirius-P-Wirius. Actually, they are housedogs. They sleep with us. But they do raise a ruckus when the "territory" is invaded.

[kayell]

105. Not terraists

BSE takes years to develop. Mad cow would not be practical for a WMD. The only terrorists involved are the corporate animal farms and their USDA minions who have avoided dealing with this problem for years, believing that it couldn't possibly happen here. Somehow, they seemed to believe that despite lax testing and stupid feeding practices, that BSE would stay away from the US. Apparently our superior culture and guv'ment was going to fend off the dread prions.

Damn glad I'm a vegetarian. Maybe more restaurants will have decent veg options now.

[Sugarbleus]

79. Except when...

we get our food from south america or other places where the "clean food" handling standards are far below ours.
Remember the e coli thing with strawberry's from outside US? I don't trust much food from outside US. I wash everything to death..but, who knows, maybe ALL our food is suspect no matter where it comes from now.............so sad.

Time for home gardens and organic meats...

[Kool Kitty]

83. Good point.

Between the point you raised and the Bush administration rolling back the regulations and inspections, I'll be buying organic from now on. Goddammit, there's always some new horror to worry about. Between the orange alerts and the shitty meat and the scary voting machines, I'm ready to give up.

[KansDem]

115. Organic is OK then..?

I thought it would be. My wife and I are buying more organic foods now. It's a little more expensive for meats but since we're eating less meat these days, it averages out.

Besides, organic stores smell better...

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

87. Vegetarian here too ! I love animals-they're all cute-why eat them?

I saw this story on the ABC evening News.
When I saw those cows being led slowly on their walk to be "slaughtered"(what a nice word) They were so docile and compliant.
They just looked so cute-you know like a puppy or a kitten--just innocent sweet hearted animals.
I find it repulsively cruel to massacre so many with industrialized farming. America-6% of the world's population eats 60% of the world's "beef"(another nice word)

I can hear it now:

Oh, but we've all ways dun it this away.
Where will ya git yer protein.
God put animals on earth fer us ta eat'm.

Yeah I know the "we've always done it this way" argument.
once a very popular argument for the fuedal system in Europe
once a very popular argument to keep slaves
once a very popular argument against civil rights
once a very popular argument once for the British Empire
once a very popular argument against women's rights
once a very popular argument for anything that's obviously morally questionable but widely accepted.

It's never popular to think differently.
But I don't care what's popular.

Now it might soon be popular to not eat the bloody bodies.

Mother Nature has a means of recoil when we mess with feeding cows parts of other dead cows.

[mithnanthy]

98. Thanks, aunteeWar....

I agree. My husband and I haven't eaten meat in over 25 years and are healthier than most of our friends and family of all ages.

[Mairead]

101. Right on!

Tofu and veggies. Endlessly variable.

[RebelOne]

108. Right on, here too!!

[AngryAmish]

114. Just bad veggies

see Mexican green onions about one month ago.

Listen, food is morally neutral. Most vegetarians have a religious bent. Vegetarianism is their religion, it is irrefutable and invulnerable to criticism.
Which is fine. That is why we have the 1st Amendment. But you see the 1st Amendment runs both ways, and PETA anti-meat classes in schools and the like (not private demonstrations but govt supported and condoned actions) violate the establishment clause.

[Impolitico]

121. I hate to burst your bubble....

.... but vegetarianism is not going to protect you from vCJD...... An acquaintance of mine died three years ago from it. She was a vegetarian, and had acquired vCJD (as best as they could summise) from using bonemeal in her garden.

[joycep]

128. That's what I was thinking while I was reading this

I never have to worry about this.

[DUreader]

7. WTF is a 'Voluntary Recall' ??????

[NNN0LHI]

11. Keith Olberman reported it twice in 10 minutes what I posted and...

...I as close as I can remember it but I can't find a link yet.

Don

[Tinoire]

38. The meat industry is so strong in this country that most recalls

are voluntary. If you care about this issue, please read 2 books on this subject; they discuss the entire farce of these voluntary recalls. I stopped eating meat for 2 months after reading these books. I've gone back to my carnivorous ways but am very, very careful about my meat now. Even then I think it's a ticking time-bomb.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060938455/102-4488339-7857708?v=glance">Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser

Slaughterhouse by Gail Eisnitz
====

Fast Food Nation

what the papers say

New York Times - "Here is another side of the unfettered money culture that has been celebrated as an exciting orgy of entrepreneurialism and opportunity."

San Francisco Chronicle - Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" is a good old-fashioned muckraking expose in the tradition of "Th American Way of Death" that's as disturbing as it is irresistible ..."

USA Today - Fast Food Nation is the kind of book that you hope young people read because it demonstrates far better than any social studies class the need for government regulation, the unchecked power of multinational corporations and the importance of our everyday decisions."


Christian Science Monitor - Not all of this exposé is dark and dreary. Most, but not all. While the prevailing wisdom suggests the highly efficient business model of McDonald's and other chains is the only way to profit, Schlosser finds evidence to the contrary."[br />
Evening Standard (UK) - If your biggest worry about eating at a fast food restaurant is whether to order a burger and fries or barbecue grilled nuggets and a strawberry milkshake, then swallow hard and think again.

Salon - Schlosser never comes off as a "sky is falling" street-corner raver or bullheaded finger-pointer. His fury is evident, but his voice is measured and his methods are subtle."


Extract from the Guardian (UK) Saturday, 7th April 2001:
http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/mcds/theguardian0704011.html


http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/books/schlosser.html


===========================

Slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse is available from FARM (PO Box 30654, Bethesda, MD 20824), Humane Farming Association (PO Box 3577, San Rafael, CA 94912), and most bookstores. People who would like to help get this information to the general public should contact FARM and HFA.



Warning: Last paragraph in this extract is NOT for the squeamish.

Slaughterhouse
by Gail A Eisnitz
Prometheus Books, New York, 1997
310 pp; $29.95 hc

<snip>
In the midst of our high-tech, ostentatious, hedonistic lifestyle, among the dazzling monuments to history, art, religion, and commerce, there are the 'black boxes.' These are the biomedical research laboratories, factory farms, and slaughterhouses - faceless compounds where society conducts its dirty business of abusing and killing innocent, feeling beings.
These are our Dachaus, our Buchenwalds, our Birkenaus. Like the good German burghers, we have a fair idea of what goes on there, but we don't want any reality checks. We rationalize that the killing has to be done and that it's done humanely. We fear that the truth would offend our sensibilities and perhaps force us to do something. It may even change our life.

Slaughterhouse by Gail Eisnitz of the Humane Farming Association is a gut-wrenching, chilling, yet carefully documented, expose of unspeakable torture and death in America's slaughterhouses. It explodes their popular image of obscure factories that turn dumb 'livestock' into sterile, cellophane-wrapped 'food' in the meat display case. The testimony of dozens of slaughterhouse workers and USDA inspectors pulls the curtain on abominable hellholes, where the last minutes of innocent, feeling, intelligent horses, cows, calves, pigs, and chickens are turned into interminable agony. And, yes, the book may well change your life. Here are some sample quotes (warning! extremely offensive material follows).

The agony starts when the animals are hauled over long distances under extreme crowding and harsh temperatures. Here is an account from a worker assigned to unloading pigs: "In the winter, some hogs come in all froze to the sides of the trucks. They tie a chain around them and jerk them off the walls of the truck, leave a chunk of hide and flesh behind. They might have a little bit of life left in them, but workers just throw them on the piles of dead ones. They'll die sooner or later."

Once at the slaughterhouse, some animals are too injured to walk and others simply refuse to go quietly to their deaths. This is how the workers deal with it: "The preferred method of handling a cripple is to beat him to death with a lead pipe before he gets into the chute... If you get a hog in a chute that's had the shit prodded out of him, and has a heart attack or refuses to move, you take a meat hook and hook it into his bunghole (anus)...and a lot of times the meat hook rips out of the bunghole. I've seen thighs completely ripped open. I've also seen intestines come out."


<snip>
http://www.meat.org.uk/slaught.html

[toodles_oduff]

81. Things haven't improved since "The Jungle"

That was Upton Sinclair's expose of the meat industry in Chicago about a hundred years ago. TLC had a series on "The Great Books" a while back and this was one of the featured titles. I read Schlosser's book. Excellent and depressing as things don't seem to have gotten any better since Mr. Sinclair's time and perhaps have gotten worse.

[Tinoire]

85. That was my feeling exactly

If anything, we've regressed thanks to the murderous technology we have at our disposal today. :(

Welcome to DU :toast:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

119. Here's another one for you...

Check our Howard Lymman's Mad Cowboy website -- www.madcowboy.com

He is a fourth generation rancher who is now a vegan who has made it his purpose in life to expose the current state of animal production. He was made famous as the guy who told Oprah not to eat hamburgers. The first time I visited his site and found out that one of the primary ingredients in a beef cow's diet was CHICKEN SHIT, I was damn glad I hadn't been eating them for a decade.

He has a bunch of great information on Mad Cow and a newsletter.

[Mrs. Overall]

8. So the disease isn't present in dairy products,

just meat?

[TeeYiYi]

62. Milk and dairy products too . . .

"Here is why milk and dairy products may be
the key to passing on Mad Cow Disease to humans:

The active substance that causes Mad Cow Disease to spread
to humans and causes a brain-wasting encephalopathy called
Cruetzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD) is the Prion. Prions
are protein fibrils, crystalline in structure. They
are not destroyed by Pasteurization.

Since one single cows filters 10,000 quarts of blood through
her udder each day, chances are that an infected cow has
spread her disease to humans in her milk. Ten pounds of
milk are required to make one pound of hard cheese. Twelve
pounds of milk make one pound of ice cream. Twenty-one
pounds of milk make one pound of butter."

http://www.notmilk.com/m.html

TYY

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. And the second shoe drops

to think that the brave NYT reporter pressed the secretary on this same issue.

Gee golly I wonder


THis is going to cost the beef industry BILLIONS when all is said
and done

[KoKo]

10. All Meat or just Beef? What?

More chaos terror alerts?

[bicentennial_baby]

13. Mad Cow is no joke

[TeeYiYi]

12. In milk and dairy too . . .

EMERGENCY***First Ever USA Mad Cow
by Robert Cohen — Tuesday Dec 23, 2003

It was inevitable. The State of Washington is home
to America's first Mad Cow, and Canadians are
snickering.

Last summer, the United States destroyed Canada's
meat industry by closing its borders to meat and
dairy products from the north. Now it is America's
meat and dairy industries that will suffer the
consequences of marketing diseased flesh and body fluids.

Canadians shunned beef after their first case of
Mad Cow Disease. Will Americans do the same?

So far, one Holstein cow from a dairy farm in Mapleton,
Washington has tested positive. Mapleton is in the center
of the state, just 40 miles southeast of Yakima. The entire
farm has been quarantined, but the damage has been done.

Americans have been drinking milk from that cow for many years.
This is as bad as it gets folks, for the disease is here. The
plague is coming. Here is why milk and dairy products may be
the key to passing on Mad Cow Disease to humans:

http://www.notmilk.com/m.html

The active substance that causes Mad Cow Disease to spread
to humans and causes a brain-wasting encephalopathy called
Cruetzfeld Jacob Disease (CJD) is the Prion. Prions
are protein fibrils, crystalline in structure. They
are not destroyed by Pasteurization.

Since one single cows filters 10,000 quarts of blood through
her udder each day, chances are that an infected cow has
spread her disease to humans in her milk. Ten pounds of
milk are required to make one pound of hard cheese. Twelve
pounds of milk make one pound of ice cream. Twenty-one
pounds of milk make one pound of butter.

Will these potential poisons be served at your
Christmas or New Year's buffet?

Merry Christmas, dairymen.
Happy New Year, meat producers.
Americans have been waiting for a sign to
reject your poisons.
It's here.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com


----------------------------------------------------
THE NOTMILK NEWSLETTER:
SUBSCRIBE: send an empty Email to-
[e-mail]

-------------

Posted in its entirety with permission.

TYY

[jobycom]

30. Nothing like bastards who gloat over tragedy, eh?

Send that piece of garbage to the Republicans. Anyone who can find such smug glee in a disease likely to affect infants and children, not to mention adults, wins my award for "Most Likely to Receive Spittle in the Face."

I'm vegetarian, but my kids aren't, my parents aren't, and most of my friends aren't. Any of them getting this disease affects me, too. My children getting it would mean more to me than me getting it myself. Yet this writer uses this as an "I told you so" moment?

Sick man.

[Mairead]

104. I was unfavorably impressed by that site.

I'm a veg and strongly pro-animal-welfare, but there are certain propaganda efforts that stink. PETA has some of the worst, and the no-milk site looks like another. Scare tactics and innuendo are insultingly anti-scientific.

[kayell]

106. Robert Cohen (the Not-milk man) has a bad rep among many veggies

He is often willing to post a lot of BS, non-scientifically based info, or to distort scientific studies badly to support his vision. The result is that good information that is mixed in with the garbage gets rejected also. I would never quote his site to try to convince a meat eater to go veg. Vegsource.com and some other veg sites are more careful to only post info that is verifiable.

[Mairead]

117. "good information gets rejected also"

Yes, that's why that kind of stuff revolts me: it's positively harmful rather than helpful or even neutral. It's 'anti-information'.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

15. Such bullshit...dems tried to firm up regs on this

from MSNBC article:

But Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said such cows shouldn’t be in the food supply in the first place. The Senate passed such a ban earlier this year, but it failed to make it through the House.

“I blame it on greed, greed, greed,” Ackerman said. “The greed of the industry, the greed of the lobbyists and the greed of the members of Congress.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/3795664/

[aquart]

34. Greed can be awfully expensive.

[MidwestTransplant]

16. Didn't Bush weaken Dept. of Ag. authority

?

[expatriot]

35. Yes... read Molly Ivans' _Bushwhacked_ Chapter 8, "Ready to Eat?"

A lot of crazy stuff.... It is like reading _The Jungle_ all over again.

[pinniped]

20. Tomorrow is when version 2.0 is due out.

Everyone is following pres. POS' technique.

[DS1]

21. *cry* First they banned Santa from flying over major cities

now they're taking away our roast beef?

/snicker

[Malva Zebrina]

22. Honestly

if I had the monetary resources, I would leave this country for good for the rest of my life. This is, imo, highly suspicious to me as I suspect it is must ano0ther knee jerk , fear postulation of the urban legend Bush government.

Bush has seen to it that he does not give us, his citizens, and hope whatsoever to overcome anything, as has been the usual approach of all previous presidents. INdeed, he has seen to it that we all live in FEAR of all sorts of dire attacks and all sorts of doom and gloom that he and Rove can see fit to conjur up. And now it is "mad cow" disease.

Honestly, this guy and his ersatz , war mongering, government, cannot see beyond their war and killing red eyes enough so that the ordinary everyday risks the citizens may face, may need to be a concern of theirs. They will milk it to serve us up some more FEAR, so that they can pursue their imperialistic, war mongering pursuits at our expense and at the loss of our children's lives.

Their only concern, ladies and gentlemen, is their PROFIT!! and that PROFIT has no where to go but to go to war, in these times to keep up.

Everything else, locally, has been used up.

[KoKo]

25. BTW Beef prices are really high due to Ban on Canadian Imports,therefore

Bushies way of dealing with high prices is to cause a "terror alert" claiming "MAD COW!" People don't buy beef and the prices come down.

Simple Solution when you're "Mad King George!" Another "stinky alert."

I'll wait for more verification than this incident. Remember there was another Mad Cow alert over one cow in Canada last Spring and the cow came from the US. We didn't here anymore after that, so "who knows." We aren't told the truth about anything, anyway.

[LanternWaste]

55. A Ban on imported Canadian beef? I didn't know that

I didn't know the US had been banning Candian beef imports. Why? Had there been an outbreak of MC in Canada or is * simply playing games with the borders again?

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

89. Outbreak in Canada (nt)

nt

[MostlyBlackCat2]

125. only one cow in canada

http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=CADBCF73-30C6-4198-BC37-771D8085DADC

"...officials said there is likely no link to a single Canadian case in Alberta earlier this year."

there was one cow in canada with it.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

91. I doubt Bush had anything to do with this

The people this hurts the most (besides all of us dying horrible deaths) are the people running the beef and dairy industries. They are the greedy bastards that paid Bush lots of money to deregulate those industries. If Bush had any choice in the matter, I'm sure that he would choose to bury this revelation and pretend that nothing was wrong. He'll be long gone before most people here start dying of it and that's all that matters to him.

[SoCalDem]

93. But... Watch for the congress to "find" vast sums of CASH

to "bail out" the factory farmers..

This kind of stuff would not be happening if cows and other livestock ate what they were intended to eat.. GRASS and HAY..not ground up pellets made from the remnants of other animals..

Cattle are ruminants.. their stomachs and metabolism were intended to process vegetable matter...not meat..

Factory farming stinks :(..

[MaineDem]

103. You're right...Bush doesn't want this

A ban on imported US beef in Asia...McDonald's stock down after-market yesterday...potential for up to 6 years of import bans? Nope, the administration does not want this to happen.

I'd suspect the Dept of Ag will hush it up rather than gloat about it. I'm watching to see what how the stock market reacts on a normally very quiet trading day.

[Impolitico]

124. Already the language is changing....

Yesterday CNN.com was "First Case of US Mad Cow Discovered"-- definitive. Today it's, "Mad Cow in the U.S.?"

Already the damage control (read: Keep The People Stupid) machine is kicking into gear.

[CalebHayes]

26. Why eat meat anyway?

I don't.

[Gin]

27. The Yoga philosophy is" never eat anything that bleeds"

gin

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

88. how 'bout the one: Never eat anything that had a Mother

*

[are_we_united_yet]

122. Yeah like Scotch

:)

[PatGund]

54. Nice if you can do it

But I can't. Not only am I allergic to most legumes, but my body can't metabolize vegetable protein. I tried to go vegetarian once - and made myself completely sick as a result. Protein deficency is not fun.

[Stuckinthebush]

65. Because it tastes so good!

:D

[flamingyouth]

28. I just enjoyed a tasty dinner of slow-baked tofu

Hopefully there's nothing wrong with that yet...

[aquart]

37. Allergic to soy.

[dfong63]

82. not worried about the phyto-estrogens?

[Scurrilous]

29. Japan halts US beef imports

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8250425%5E1702,00.html

[aquart]

36. We deserved that.

Is there a way to test cows in advance for the disease? How do they get it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. They get it from feed, that contains

amimal feed

And yes, the EU tests EVERY ANIMAL meant for human consumption

Our lovely beef industry has been fighting these regulations FOR
YEARS

Greedy bastards

[Mrs. Overall]

41. Can Pet Foods

contain some of this tainted, diseased "feed" as well?

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. Yes

good news it affects cows when fed cow laced feed... that is how it spreads

Look for those cute ones that talk of animal rendered protein, those are the key words

[aquart]

40. So what do these jackasses plan to do to guarantee beef safety>

As much as they did to guarantee the safety of investing?

[NashVegas]

42. Figures ..

I just gave into the beef impulse for the first time in several weeks.

On the upside, it was Coleman's natural ...

[Lorien]

94. Me too

I allow myself one hamburger every year around Christmas time-I just had it three days ago! I haven't had my one burger in three years...well, I guess that'll teach me. :-(

Isn't our fod in general much less safe now than it was years ago? I read some blub somewhere that the * administration doesn't encourage much safety testing of anything for fear of recalls (greed wins again).

[Tinoire]

43. Bush admin Venneman says not to worry- all is safe.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Undersecretary of Agriculture Elsa Murano and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Deputy Administrator Dr. Ron Dehaven at mad cow disease press conference on Tuesday, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:


VENEMAN: Today we received word from USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, that a single Holstein cow from Washington State has tested as presumptive positive for BSE, or what is widely known as Mad Cow Disease.

Despite this finding, we remain confident in the safety of our food supply. The risk to human health from BSE is extremely low.

The animal tested was a downer cow, or non-ambulatory at the time of slaughter, and was identified as part of USDA's targeted surveillance program.

<snip>

I have been in contact with (Homeland Security) Secretary (Tom) Ridge. And I would emphasize that, based on the information available, this incident is not terrorist related, nor is it related in any way to our nation's heightened-alert status. I cannot stress this point strongly enough.

The safety of our food supply and public health are high priorities of this administration and high priorities of USDA.

In the last year, we have tested 20,526 head of cattle for BSE, which is triple the level of the previous year of 2002.

The presumptive positive today is a result of our aggressive surveillance program. This is a clear indication that our surveillance-and-detection program is working.

<snip>

The rest of the transcript:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4284979.html

[drscm]

64. And the air in NY after 9/11 was safe to breathe...

The sad thing about this misadministration is that I absolutely do not believe a single damn thing they say. In fact, I trust that the opposite is usually true.

The first question one needs to ask is "What are the benefits for corporations and *Bush donors?" Once you have answered that question, you know that *Bush will say anything to promote them, ven if it is a lie.

[aquart]

66. Like the air in downtown Manhattan was "safe"?

Pardon me if I don't believe him.

This administration always lies.

[BiggJawn]

69. When I see Veneman eating Steak Tartare...

THEN I might believe her..
Oh, I forgot....That's USA beef, no fair sneaking in some imported free-range organic stuff that's $30 a pound and Po' Folk like Me and my Sweety can't afford it...

And someplace, a Scientist is saying "See? I TOLD you that 'Soylent Green' bullshit would blow up in out faces, but NOOOOOOOOO! YOU said 'It's a shame to cart that crap to the landfill, maybe we could grind it up into cattle feed'..."

[Robb]

107. ...it'll be from New Zealand.

NZ Steak Tartare. $100 a plate.

Lordy.

[alfredo]

71. Ann Venneman sounds like Baghdad Bob, but

not as credible.

I wonder how many they missed?


With an incubation period of up to several decades, none of the bigwigs in the government or industry need worry about having to be held responsible.

[Tinoire]

44. Article/Transcript: USDA to recall beef linked to mad cow case

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department will announce a beef recall as soon as investigators determine the extent of beef products that may contain parts of an animal infected by mad cow disease, a department official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The USDA official, who asked not to be identified, said a voluntary recall could be announced as early as Wednesday. He had no details of how much beef might be recalled.

"As soon as we have the necessary information, we will be conducting a recall," he said. "The recall will depend on how many days of production we think may be affected and how this product was mixed."

<snip>


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23323909.htm

[LizW]

47. This is a disaster

It's not as if this animal was slaughtered for human consumption. That would be easier, since there's only so much meat in one cow, and the testing requirements are more stringent for food beef. But it sounds like this was an old, sick cow and she was slaughtered and ground up for other purposes (pet foods, maybe, or feed for other livestock). So, while the feds are saying that this cow was not eaten by humans, they can't say that she was not eaten by other animals that may be eaten by humans in the future.

This is distressing. If it comes to it, it won't be hard for me to give up meat, but it will be very hard for my kids. And my mom's making chili for a family gathering the night after Christmas. :(

[gauguin57]

50. poor little cowies

I start crying every time I see those clips of the cows having seizures and falling over. And the poor farmer whose herd has to be destroyed.

Well, off to eat my dinner of soy and vegetable products. Edamame ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[SayitAintSo]

77. You can make great vegtarian chile .... not to dispair ....

Look for it in the Heath stores .... in a box... :)

[leftchick]

102. substitute veggie "ground round"

I use that in my chili and it is GREAT! :)

[LanternWaste]

49. This could be very, very bad news for the economy

A simple cut-n-paste from a reply I made to the other thread about this, but I think it's relevant here also....

This could be very, very bad news for the economy. Within hours of the announcement, I've read (here on DU) that two contries, Japan and S. Korea have already halted shipments of American beef. Tomorrow I suspect there will be another handful of countries doing the same thing and by the end of the week, the American Beef industry could be in the same predicament that Britain was some time back. But in Britain's case, they owned up to it, admitted it happened and looked to the world community for suggestions on how to contain it.

Fast food industries, restaurants, large and small caterers, grocery stores, ranchers, feed producers, etc. It's a long list whi this directly affects and a much longer list on who it indirectly affects. Additionally, while this will be good news for the poultry and fish industries, I expect them to jack up prices on us for no other reason than they can.

There's undoubtably going to be a trickle affect on the economy which, although reportedly looking up, could get a body-blow from this. Keep your eyes on the beef futures over the next few days. That will be a big indicator on what happens to the rest of the market over the next month, already looking a bit sluggish from lower than expected holiday retail sales (I'm not crying that Wal-Mart has reported a 13% drop n expected sales this month)

Here in the good ol' U.S. of A., we have an administration which has already pissed on everyone we're not already at war with. This is prime time for the European nations to stick it back to us for the crap we've been giving them and to be honest, I don't blame them. Hopefully they'll see this a good opportunity for some serious leverage on the diplomatic front.

Heck, I don't really know anything. This is all just a buncha stream-of-consciousness stuff. But I would keep my eyes on the beef futures for the next week or two to gauge what's really happening....

[nadinbrzezinski]

53. You are correct

the effect will be measured in trillions

[aquart]

70. The problem is, Bush WILL NOT regulate the industry.

He will only make cosmetic changes and overseas nations will not be fooled.

The beef industry itself will have to beg on bended and bleeding knees for regulation.

Their greed got us into this. Now we all get to suffer.

[Code_Name_D]

76. Its not goting to do the slidding dollar any good eather.

It dosn't seem to take much to make it crash. But I will make no wavers on beef fuchers in the stock market. Heck, this news could send it shooting up, things are so insane on Wall Street. But the reality is not looking good.

But the real damage is yet to come. The admin is going to play ignorant with this, and tanted beef will get into the human food supply. There has already been one volontary recall. So there may be no way of knowing how many beef products decline to make the same recall. And as the admind contiues to play stupid, a person is inebitably going to contract it. And they will play surprise surprise surprise. But weather caught asleep at the switch, or protecting there budyes make no difrence. The wrath of the voters will be emence.

How in the world can W protect us from terroist, when he wount protect us from greedy catel men.

[puerco-bellies]

80. Live and feeder cattle futures will lock limit down

I will roll out of bed at the un-Godly hour of 4:30, be in my office by 5:15 or so, and get on the phone to my clients and get them to short both feeder cattle, and live cattle at the market. We will pay out the nose for those options, but it is one of those trades you just can't pass-by. I would bet the farm and my left nut that both markets will lock limit down for at least the next 4-5 trading days.

While it only takes a move of 1 1/2 cents to lock that market down (or up) that is about a 600 dollar move on the futures, and around 300 to 350 per option. Feeder cattle settled at 95.22 cents, (up .05 cents) and Live cattle settled at 92.35 cents (up .67 cents). Anybody with cattle calls (long the market) will get run over.

It's beganing to feel a-lot like Christmas, everywhere I go...:party:

Edited because I'm an idiot..

[R Hickey]

96. Gawd how I wish I had some money to gamble on the market...

Gold up from $285 right after 9/11. Missed that opportunity. Then I wanted to, and should have, shorted the dollar around the time when the Euro hit $1.05, but didn't, and now I'm going to miss this cattle futures opportunity. My money is in real estate, which is good, but my land is in the epicenter of Amerika's dairyland, which might not be so good.

[TankLV]

60. I don't care what they want, no one is getting in MY pants unless I invite

them!

[Pattib]

61. Will we all be banned from donating blood now?

My family spent seven years overseas, (Navy). Four in Scotland and three in Spain. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1994 we were advised that we would not be allowed to donate blood for at least 10 years.

About three years ago the Red Cross changed the ten years to indefinite status. I wonder how this situation will be resolved if this mad cow in the U.S. turns out to be accurate?

[are_we_united_yet]

67. Maybe this is the work of.....

AL-QUAEDA!

[Journeyman]

68. No, not al Queda. . .

our greedy corporations did this all to themselves.

[are_we_united_yet]

129. For sure.

I was being sarcastic (again). Might of been more effective if I said it was Clinton's penis' fault.

[dawn]

72. I lived in London during the mad cow epidemic in 1994.

And I ate meat.

But I still can't give blood!

I'm fine...except for these holes in my frontal lobe.

kidding.

No, I don't eat beef anymore. So this doesn't affect me.

[0007]

74. Bet that pisses the cattle industry off!

[maggrwaggr]

75. a lot of BS on this thread, here's the real scoop:

from the World Health Organization:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr5/en/

milk is safe. Hamburger is probably the least safe.

[Algorem]

86. What about the hogs?They a little hot under the collar?

[Blue Gardener]

110. Could it be in hogs?

I have read quite a bit about mad cow, but it's been awhile. I do recall something about it could be in hogs and other animals, but not easily detected because they are slaughtered at a younger age than cattle, and therefore the disease has not yet had time to manifest. Any toughts?

[htuttle]

111. I believe it's been found in most mammals

The case I'm thinking of in particular is the London Zoo years ago. It had gotten into the feed, and lots of very different animals started showing BSE symptoms, from the big cats to wolves, etc... Some farm-raised mink in WI showed up with something very similar to BSE years ago, as did the deer population.

I don't think prion disease has ever been found in any non-mammals, such as birds, fish, etc...

[Blue Gardener]

113. Scary

Glad I don't eat pig either.

[grasswire]

90. to those who wonder about pet food....

....it is my sad duty to report that canned pet food is especially horrible, in that many dead pets, euthanized pets, and sweepings from slaughterhouses, rotten carcases, and more gross items are actually used in the national brands of pet food. It really is just horrible. You're better off making food for your animal than buying anything that says "by-products".

Maybe that's why my calico cat has begun to exhibit some dementia.

[truthisfreedom]

92. don't worry, be happy. our fearless leader is flying military planes over

our cities day and night so that the droning will keep us from sleeping at all, increasing our anxiety levels to the point where we'll all go crazy whether or not we eat any damned mad cow prions. how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

[regnaD kciN]

97. CLARIFICATION: It's only a recall...

...of the meat from that one cow.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3797510/

Now, how they propose to track down all the meat products that might contain what's left of poor ol' Bossie is an interesting question, to put it mildly...

[htuttle]

112. ONE cow?

Do they suggest that a flying saucer came down and gave ol' Bossie, and no other cows, BSE?

:eyes:

Reading that article, that is indeed what they seem to be suggesting. They also seem to suggest, without plainly stating, that eating certain parts of a BSE infected cow is OK. They are dangerously wrong (no doubt, on purpose, to keep people from PANICKING!).

[dmartin29]

116. Some more clarity

I hope a bit more light on the subject. One reason Ground meat, in addition to the above statements of contamination from the grinding is that it comes from many cows. They don't just grind (for commercial production, not talking about your local store)one at a time. They can track these "batches" because of past experience with bacterial infections etc. They will want to chuck (pun) the whole run that may have included that cow. The next thing is, if you notice, they keep saying it was from a Holstein with no further explanation. Holsteins are primarily dairy cows. So the young males, not worth much "feeding out" and the retired milkers are used for eat. It is not a desirable for many reasons and is usually ground up for commercial stuff like meat in frozen lasagna, sauces etc. Most of the cuts of steak and roasts are from other types of "Beef Cattle" and they are generally feed on the opened range and fed mostly grains. The dairy cows get the fancy produced feed, heavy on the drugs to produce milk. So it is less likely, statistically to get an infected steak (one animal) than in a sauce (100+ animals) and it is fed differently and handled differently. Lastly the syndrome does appear, as in humans, to just appear sometimes it is not an infection like a bacteria and can in fact just occur in one random animal. I believe they are saying the one case in Canada last year was like this.

[MostlyBlackCat2]

126. that's right. one cow

just like in canada. there was one cow last year.

http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=CADBCF73-30C6-4198-BC37-771D8085DADC


it is possible that it is only in one animal. it's also possible that it's not. but yes, one cow is quite possible.

[Snazzy]

99. Test done on Dec 9

That's screwed up. So they had a "downer cow"--apparently the only source of BSE tests--that comes back yesterday as positive. For sure, I don't know much about what exactly to be worried about here, but clearly that testing regimen is straight from hell. 2 weeks to find out that a cow that can't walk shouldn't;t have been made into hamburgers and rendered into feed.

Also, Google "midway meats" and you get some scary stuff. That's the slaughter house. I haven't managed to sort it all out yet, but we will be hearing more about them. There was a big damning expose on them by a Seattle TV station:

http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/2267247/detail.html

Then there was a counter reaction, maybe funded by the Wash. Cattleman's Assoc. which makes it sound like KIRO was basically a front for PETA. No idea how the facts really wash out. But in the investigation of KIRO by some sort of Wash. journalistic board (again, don't know if this is a respected body or some "astro-ethics" bd.) they mention that BSE testing STOPPED in Wash. because of the TV pressure--"downer cows" were (apparently) not acceptable for food in WA for some period. The findings were dated July '03. So when did testing start again? I haven't tracked that down, or found a second source on that notion.

Lastly, USDA is in a comment period for allowing Canadian bovines (and more?) back into US. Decision was to be first week of Jan. The proposal has lots of interesting comments about US mad cow readiness, which sounds optimistic as hell.

http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2003/10/0372.htm


-------

Hey, spell check cool. B-)

[Snazzy]

130. Update on facilities

"Midway Meats" was mentioned by the USDA in the original press conference and its transcript.

Today's AP story says: "In addition to Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co. they were Willamette Valley Meats in Portland, Ore., and Interstate Meat in Clackamas County, Ore."

Don't know what happened to Midway.

[DoYouEverWonder]

109. Hey, I had a really good steak last night

at the Olive Garden, do you think I should give it back? :puke:

[BiggJawn]

118. Too late. Just pass it along...

:hurts:

[are_we_united_yet]

120. No its safe.

The Bush administration says so and they never lie.

[fortyfeetunder]

127. Mickey D's Wendy's and Outback stock down

Guess the fallout from Mad Cow disaster hit Wall Street early today with these three stocks taking an initial fall of ~$1.60US.

Meanwhile, wonder if it's possible for turkeys to get Mad Cow disease because that will be my weekend barbecue project....