Beef Eaters: How has the Mad Cow Scare Impacted Your Meals?

[stopbush]

Poll question: Beef Eaters: How has the Mad Cow Scare Impacted Your Meals?

Not intended as a thread for the vegans to say "I told you so."

[phillybri]

1. Still same....Medium Rare, please!

:-)

[Loonman]

2. wrong spot

wrong spot

[donsu]

10. could you explain why you still eat beef?

don't you believe in madcow.

like to live dangerously.

????????

[lazarus]

19. This is easy

The numbers just aren't there. I stand a much greater chance of getting food poisoning, or e coli, or just choking to death, than I do of catching mad cow.

Particularly if I don't eat ground beef processed at one of the big factory plants, which I don't. Prions don't live in muscle, they live in nerve tissue. The danger comes when the processing carves up spinal tissue, brain, etc., which gets on the meat, which then gets chopped in with the ground beef.

Similarly, e coli and other pathogens don't live in muscle tissue, but on it. That's why rare hamburger is dangerous, but rare steak isn't. Hamburger has a huge amount of surface volume, and if it's rare, most of the surface volume hasn't been cooked enough to kill any pathogens.

Searing a steak, on the other hand, kills the pathogens nicely.

For those wondering how steak tartare, which is basically raw hamburger, is eaten safely, it's all in the preparation. Basically, when done properlly, a big hunk of meat has all the surface area cut away, leaving the inner core, which is transfered to a clean surface. With a different set of knives, and clean hands, this meat is then chopped and eaten. Rather tasty, btw. Sort of like cow sushi.

[forgethell]

20. Yeah, I'll explain

why I still eat beef. I love the stuff. Chances of mad cow are extremely slim, at the current time, anyway. I smoke cigars from time to time, too.

Look, you're gonna die, sooner, or later. Shakespeare said it best in "Julius Caesar". You did read "Julius Caesar" in high school? Right? I don't have the exact quote, but it was something along the lines the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only dies but once. Then thing is, I don't choose to live my life cowering at every fright that comes along. And, during this one life that I have, I intend to have a little fun.

I don't do risky behavior like drug, mountain-climbing, or sky-diving, and I don't critcise those that do. I don't smoke cigarettes, I don't engage in promiscous and unprotected sex. But I do eat beef, and raw oysters, too. And I intend to continue doing so, unless the risk level goes up considerably.

[Mormegil42]

23. Because it tastes good

Also the chances of getting tainted meat is practically nil. I don't eat organ meat which is the source of mad cow disease so steaks and ground chuck and ground sirloin are safe. Also there has not, to my knowledge, be a proven case of the disease being transferred to humans. As a whole we should be more concerned about trichinosis from pork. The chances of this disease is much greater because it does transfer to humans

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Mormegil42!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Loonman]

3. Last one is kind of an

asshole question

[stopbush]

6. Agreed. But there you have it. And I'm not a vegan (was at one time)

[wryter2000]

4. No change

However, we always did buy hamburger from Laura's Lean Beef. She feeds her cows only grain. I wouldn't eat regular ground beef any longer because there might be some spinal cord in there if they're harvesting it from bones.

[AlinPA]

9. They sell that in the Giant (Martin's) store here.

They say that they grind it up in the store.

[central scrutinizer]

5. If you don't know your steer's name,

don't eat it. We get all of our beef from small, local farmers who use no chemicals or antibiotics. And most importantly regarding mad cow disease, no feed supplements made of animal parts. Every steer has a name and is allowed to graze freely and eat apples from the old orchard. The current inhabitant of our freezer is (or rather, was) named Stewball. The meat may appear to cost more, but not really when you calculate all of the hidden costs of corporate farming and ranching.

[BrotherBuzz]

7. Well, you're really safe!

I think Stewball was a racehorse...

[Sinistrous]

8. ...and I wish he were mine...

Oh Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine.
He never drank water, he always drank wine.

His bridle was silver, his mane it was gold.
And the worth of his saddle has never been told.

Oh the fairgrounds were crowded, and Stewball was there
But the betting was heavy on the bay and the mare.

And a-way up yonder, ahead of them all,
Came a-prancin' and a-dancin' my noble Stewball.

I bet on the grey mare, I bet on the bay
If I'd have bet on ol' Stewball, I'd be a free man today.

Oh the hoot owl, she hollers, and the turtle dove moans.
I'm a poor boy in trouble, I'm a long way from home.

Oh Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine.
He never drank water,he always drank wine.

[shanti]

13. ah the memories....

thanks :thumbsup:

[davsand]

15. Double post.--Mods please remove!

I double posted and I apologize profusely. I am SO sorry!

Laura

[davsand]

16. Yep, the freezer is your best buddy and safest bet.

It may freak people out to know the name of the cow that is now pot roast on the table, but it really IS the best beef I've ever had. If you trust your butcher it is a great way to go.

Buy a cow and split it with another family so it doesn't get old in the freezer. The second best thing I ever tumbled to was to tell them to only send me the steaks and roasts and ribs--and grind the rest up into burger. It is way leaner than even the stuff you pay extra for in the stores. I asked about it, and was freaked to hear how much beef fat and water they add to commercially prepared meats.

Laura

[forgethell]

21. I love beef,

but I wouldn't eat somebody that I know.

[DrWeird]

11. Organic beef.

Only cuts if I'm not sure.

[nansocal]

12. that's what I do now

get organic beef. it wasn't one of the options in the poll.

[Bridget Burke]

17. I agree....

I gave up buying ground beef some time ago after a nasty case of food-poisoning. Would rather have a really good steak from Central Market once a week than hamburger helper every day.

I've also been buying natural chicken & eggs & probably will exercise more care with pork & dairy products. Better conditions for the animals & better for the environment. Then, there's seafood!

Generally, I'm going for quality rather than quantity in my proteins. I don't have a family to feed & am in no danger of wasting away anytime soon.

[lazarus]

14. actually

it's going to help, since beef will get cheaper.

That said, we've always bought local, grain-fed, minimally processed beef, and any processed meats, such as sausage or ground beef we either do ourselves our get from our local butcher, who grinds it on site.

[SpiralHawk]

18. "I told you so." - Non-Vegan version

"We are now, like, totally in ballistic bovine fecal rotational displacement mode."
(the cow shit has hit the fan)

[Hubert Flottz]

22. The Mad Cowboy skeers the by-Jesus outta me more than the

Mad Cows do! BTW, I think dAnnie C. has Mad Sow disease! That and only that would explain her demented and demoniacal powers of reasoning!

[Autumn]

24. I switched

We have a shop here that sells wild game. I am not too fond of the wild taste but they do sell yak meat that is from here in Colorado so I tried it last week,it is great. I do not plan on going back to beef at all. The yak is pasture fed in the summer and hay fed in the winter.It beats the hell out of beef.

[kayell]

26. You really need an option for vegetarian in addition to vegan

since there are far more vegetarians than vegans.

[solinvictus]

27. Organic

I eat either locally grown or other organic beef. The locally raised stuff is grass fed and ground fresh in the store several times per week. It costs more, but it's SO MUCH better tasting.

[baldguy]

28. How 'bout these guys?