posted on May 21, 2003 10:29:32 AM new
Just read yesterday about one case [not a large out break] of mad cow disease being reported in Canada.
So now we've put a restriction on their beef imports. Anybody here getting more worried about this hitting our beef/meat supplies? Going to stop you from consuming meat?
posted on May 21, 2003 10:56:37 AM new
Not concerned, not going to stop eating meat. But then I've also been known to occasionally drink the water in Mexico
posted on May 21, 2003 11:05:47 AM new
Well...you're braver than I. Last time we were in Mexico was in 1990 and we still wouldn't chance it. From the early 60's and throughout the late 70's we made several trips to TJ. Never ate there nor drank there. Not brave at all.
After reading what happened to the beef industry in the UK I do worry about this disease getting into our meat supply. With all the meat recalls we have now because of contamimated meat, I am concerned about it. One case is not a big deal and Canada looks to be taking good care to watch it, but I still worry.
posted on May 21, 2003 11:19:44 AM new
Oh Linda - you missed a treat! The first couple times I went to TJ I was a little iffy but when I started spending 2-3 days a week there it's hard to not eat. The best meal you will ever have is the 3am one you have at a roadside taco stand... carne asada taco with fresh cilantro and guacamole and a little lime juice with a couple green onions right off the grill on the side and an ice cold coke from a glass bottle.... It just doesn't get better than that.
............... I wonder what the border wait is like right now?
[ edited by neonmania on May 21, 2003 11:20 AM ]
posted on May 21, 2003 11:51:24 AM new
I heard that the incubation period for mad cow is up to 8 years... yikes! The cow in question was quarantined for 3 months before being slaughtered. Now they've quarantined the rest of the herd. Because it's not transmitted from cow to cow, they suspect the feed.
posted on May 21, 2003 02:43:20 PM new
Thanks for posting a link to the story, clarksville.
It's statements like this that make me nervous: Canada's chief veterinary officer, Brian Evans, said in Paris that in addition to the 150-head herd in which the case was found, authorities traced 211 animals that left the herd in the three years of its existence. All those animals were now in quarantine and being tested. All of the 211??? Did the 211 make up the total herd? Or were there more and they've traced 211 of that total?
My grandfather was a farmer and raised cattle. If he'd been asked about cows that left the farm from his herd, many would have already been consumed by family and many would have already been sold at market. He didn't keep them any longer than was necessary to fatten them up. Selling them was how he made is living. He didn't hold them for long periods of time, nor did the people who purchased them from him. And the whole herd was never sold all at the same time either.
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posted on May 21, 2003 03:45:53 PM new
Most farmland is used for animal grazing or for food for the animals. If half of that land was used to grow food for people, nobody in the world would starve. Imagine.
posted on May 21, 2003 05:09:12 PM new
Mad cow is caused by feeding a species on itself. In order to save on expense the feed companies grind up substandard downed cows into the feed. This is done worldwide. Until it stops this will continue to be a problem. If you do not wish to be exposed to mad cow and wish to eat beef buy organic (it tastes better anyway).
posted on May 21, 2003 06:42:04 PM new
I wonder if people can build some kind of immunity from MCD if they ate small quantities of it over the years, or if just a tiny bit of it gives you the full blown disease. Anyone know?
posted on May 21, 2003 08:18:36 PM new
According to the CDC, in the United Kingdom, the current risk of acquiring vCJD from eating beef and beef products appears to be extremely small, perhaps about one case per 10 billion servings. In other countries of the world, this current risk, if it exists at all, would not likely be any higher than that in the United Kingdom.
So, lindak...if you are thinking that you may have consumed one of those 211 missing cows you can stop worrying now. <wink>
(Milk and milk products from cows are not believed to pose any risk for transmitting the BSE agent.)
posted on May 21, 2003 08:23:34 PM new
Don't forget, a variant of MC has existed in North American elk for some time...remember those hunters who died last year...I forget where they were...different places If I recall but their kills were from the same area. Grocery store beef is nasty.. davebraun is right.... Cattle are fattened in feedlots prior to slaughter and are uniformly fed products that come from only a few manufacturers nationwide...standard fattening feed does indeed contain beef byproducts, which are obtained from rendering plants which process downed livestock, including the sick, aged and those that just drop over dead in the pasture, I had one hauled off last week.....then again, so does your dog and cat food...IMO, it puts the consumer of agribusiness beef and lamb about three degrees away from any contaminants that are out there. If you can't raise your own meat, buy organic beef raised on certified organic farms...It's a little hard to find, and it costs more, but it's out there in almost any community.Eat less meat, but eat better...nobody needs beef every day anyhow. Hunters can get over their macho thinking about "I'm safe, I only eat wild meat"...that's bull (pun intended)...cattle, sheep, goats, deer and elk are all ruminants and in general the nasties that affect one will affect the others, or it's a short viral jump to cross species.
Our meat animals graze only in our nearest pasture, where they do not contact the animals that graze on open range. One steer and 2 or three lambs keeps us in meat all year. I haven't bought store meat in 20+ years and don't plan to.
neon: you're right, there's nothing like a 2 a.m. feast of stand up tacos at some corner taqueria and a cold coca in a real glass bottle! The bed of my truck is always loaded with cases of 16oz. cokes on my return trips. You buy an ititial case of 24 16 oz. cokes for about 20 bucks at a coke deposito, save the empties and the crate, then on your next trip down you trade it for a filled case for 7 dollars! The mexican coke is still formulated with pure sugar, not corn syrup...as I'm sure you've noticed, it's not as sticky sweet as American coke...Sonoran beef is some of the best in the world..you were eating Sonoran beef in your TJ tacos...(I have no affiliation with my cousins' Sonoran cattle ranch )
If you can't answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.
- Elbert Hubbard
posted on May 21, 2003 08:34:36 PM new
LOL at dave's statement -
KD - Farmers have found ways to raise more animals in smaller areas....then the animal rights people start screaming...about the unfair treatment and conditions they're being bred and raised in. This does allow for all that extra land to be used for growing your veggies.
Helen - A sense of humor??? How nice. So, lindak...if you are thinking that you may have consumed one of those 211 missing cows you can stop worrying now. <wink>. No, helen, I was thinking of the affect of MCD and the toll it took on their economy when they had to destroy so many head of cattle...and of the people that had eaten the tainted beef before they got control over the problem. Just as some in the Canadian government appear concerned about the affect it might have on their's IF this is not an isolated problem.
posted on May 21, 2003 08:45:12 PM newI forget where they were...different places If I recall but their kills were from the same area. Yes, gravid shared that story. I believe he said they were in/around his area...or at least not to far away from where he lives.
I too agree that corn fed cows that also graze the land have the best flavor in the world and that there is no comparison to what we buy in the stores. Same with vegetables...nothing like taking them from a garden fresh....not picked green and days old. I guess you'd call how my grandfather raised his herds to be what is now referred to as 'organic'. Problem is farmers lost a lot of cows to diseases that they don't now. Regulations to take care of one set of problems have created other problems.
You failed to comprehend the serious intent of my comment...to assuage your worries. I found that the current risk of acquiring vCJD from eating beef and beef products appears to be extremely small, perhaps about one case per 10 billion servings. It's a leap to forecast such dire prospects, as you have suggested, based only on one diseased cow.
posted on May 22, 2003 06:25:54 AM new
Helen - It's a leap.... yes such a leap that our country along with Other countries including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and Mexico have quickly followed suit, forcing Alberta's C$4 billion ($3 billion) cattle industry to grind nearly to a halt, officials said.
Maybe you need to reassure *them* there's nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure they'll listen to your advice to 'lighten up'
posted on May 22, 2003 06:48:58 AM new
lindak...Have you defrosted your refrig and freezer yet? Maybe you and your gov'ment are right and your beef may have been contaminated!!! HOLY COW!!!
I'll have to admit that I never considered that possibility.
U.S. consumers face little health risk from the recent appearance of mad cow disease in Canada, specialists and government officials said, citing a stringent set of beef industry regulations put in place after a mad cow disease outbreak in England nearly a decade ago.
Most important, they said, is the six-year-old ban on the use of cow meat in the feed of US and Canadian cattle. The British outbreak, which affected more than 178,000 cows, was blamed largely on cattle feed laced with contaminated chunks of cow brain and spinal tissue.
Most US ranchers, in order to sell beef in the United States, must sign affidavits proclaiming their cattle feed is free of cow meat. Beef industry representatives said ranchers and beef distributors, recognizing mad cow disease's economic threat, have assiduously complied with the feed ban.
''The Canadian case is something that should not raise major concerns about public health,'' said George M. Gray, acting director of Harvard University's Center for Risk Analysis.
Gray recently led a Harvard team in a top-to-bottom review of the US Agriculture Department's mad cow disease protections, concluding there was virtually no chance of human infection through contaminated meat.
posted on May 22, 2003 09:32:31 AM new
I think the cows are just mad to learn that the new batch of elected politicians are no better than the old batch. The reason there's an 8 year incubation period is because every 8 years they vote out the old batch and the cows calm down thinking the new batch will be better. Then they find out nothing has improved and they get mad all over again.
posted on May 22, 2003 09:44:19 AM new Most US ranchers, in order to sell beef in the United States, must sign affidavits proclaiming their cattle feed is free of cow meat. Beef industry representatives said ranchers and beef distributors, recognizing mad cow disease's economic threat, have assiduously complied with the feed ban.
Just like the agribusiness guaranteed us Starlink corn wouldn't get into the consumer food supply...
One thing I have learned about American agribusiness, they have definite rules for conducting business:
1. How long can we do it before we get caught
2. How much and to who do we pay to believe we didn't realize it was happening
3. How long do we have to follow standards before we can go back to business as usual.
Remember when meat packing plants were found to be violating a multitude of health code violations? The US government reacted by....cutting the budget for meat inspections, cutting the number of meat inspectors and put the plants on "self-inspection". "Miraclously" the incidence of violations went way down.
A politician will call you intelligent to keep you ignorant. I tell you that you are ignorant so that you may want to be intelligent - Eugene Debs
[ edited by mlecher on May 22, 2003 09:49 AM ]
posted on May 22, 2003 09:47:15 AM new
First dirty chickens (my daughter has resorted to paying almost $3 a dozen for purer eggs. Now, that's extreme in my book), now mad cows. Don't we have enough to worry about? Personally, I try not to give it much thought. I'm already half mad anyway (LOL). I eat more veggies than I do meat. First, stop killing your immune systems with smoking, alcohol, anti-bacterial washes and the like. (I'm working on the smoking thing myself. It's tough, but I intend to beat it.) Abuse it and lose it.
I am sympathetic to the farmers who can potentially lose their livlihoods over this. It was devistating in the UK. Americans consume a huge amount of beef and the UK lost substantial income when the importing of their beef to the US was outlawed.
There are some days that becoming a vegetarian looks more and more appealing. If I could just get past that soy thing. . .
posted on May 22, 2003 09:58:55 AM new
Did you realize that our government has passed certain rules when it concerns the meat processing industry.
If it is learned the a plant has processed cattle from an infected herd:
A: It doesn't have to tell the public
B: It doesn't have to recall the meat, even if it knows where it is.
C. It can continue to ship the meat because meat inspectors are not allowed to shut down or stop the plant
D. Anyone who, without permission, makes it public about the contaminated meat will be charged AND CONVICTED of a federal felony.
The meat recalls you have heard about were all voluntary and only because somebody had already DIED from the contaminated meat and the recall was a PR event. They had know about the contamination long before.
A politician will call you intelligent to keep you ignorant. I tell you that you are ignorant so that you may want to be intelligent - Eugene Debs
[ edited by mlecher on May 22, 2003 09:59 AM ]
yes such a leap that our country along with Other countries including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and Mexico have quickly followed suit, forcing Alberta's C$4 billion ($3 billion) cattle industry to grind nearly to a halt, officials said.