May 04, 2004

Another American downer cow. Last Tuesday, a Federal veterinarian reported a downer cow at Lone Star Beef in Texas, one of the nation's top 20 meat packers. Curiously, the plant owner did not destroy or hold the cow for testing, but sent it off to be rendered, conceivably in an attempt to bury a potential problem. Reuters reports that foreign beef importers are in an uproar. Neither Lone Star Beef nor the USDA are talking to reporters.
posted by rolypolyman 20 years ago
  • downer cow.
  • Yup, podner, that's EXACTLY what I figger the USDA is gonna do. Ignore it, it doesn't exist. TEST for it, ya gotta be kidding. Lose my fat investment in beef futures, not on your tintype. Really and truely, we're only concerned with your economy, not our wallets. Our slogan: Eat MORE beef! When your gaga, you just don't care.
  • Maybe Mom was right: "You cannot trust The Man."
  • I'm not a shill, honestly-- and not a vegetarian-- but I'm highly recommending an evening with Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. (Get it at the library... there, now I feel better.) The beef industry's lack of regulation, cooperation and accountability will make you think hard before your next trip to the drive through at McDonalds or elsewhere, or your next trip to the grocery store to pick up any ground beef. I mean, yowza: the average beef patty can contain parts of dozens of cows. I love the Alton Brown show "Good Eats", and take his advice: best to minimize your risk and grind your own beef.
  • monkeyfilter: grind your own
  • Rendering, eh? I do hope it doesn't end up cooked at low temperture and onsold as meat meal for, I don't know, cattle feed? … the system is not airtight. A report a year ago by the congressional watchdog, the U.S. General Accounting Office, found flaws in the FDA's enforcement of the feed ban and widespread lapses at rendering plants and feed mills. The FDA says those problems have been fixed. Even so, some loopholes are built into the law. For instance: When feed containing rendered cattle is given to poultry, some of it scatters on the floor as the birds peck at it. The floor is also thick with excrement, feathers, dirt and bits of straw. Rather than throw all that waste away, farmers sweep it up and recycle it — by selling it as cattle feed. The FDA allows that practice, which is most common in the big chicken-producing states of the Southeast. The ban on cattle eating cattle is circumvented in other ways too. It's legal to feed American cattle dry pet food that is past its expiration date. Yet that pet food is made from cattle carcasses. It's also legal to feed cattle supplements made from restaurant leftovers — including steaks and burgers.
  • but I'm highly recommending an evening with Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Here's an interview with Schlosser, and you can read an excerpt of the book here.
  • Let's all go out right now and eat a triple-cheeseburger and beef blood sausage. To celebrate the industry's diligence and concern for our health.
  • On this issue, DEADLY FEASTS: "Tracking The Secrets Of A Terrifying New Plague" by Richard Rhodes is an even more required read. It follows the history of prion diseases from kuru to scrapie to CWD to BSE, and discusses all relevant aspects, including methods and rate of trasmission and the realities and complexities of inter-species infection.
  • Anyone who made any effort to follow the information flowing out of the original downer cow a few months ago will find this latest action no surprise at all. All evidence strongly suggests a deliberate policy of 'Don't ask, don't tell' between the USDA and large cattle producer/processors, regarding anything to do with mad cow. Heck, the fact that this technology is still allowed is the U.S. tells a great deal about their commitment to facing the problem.
  • The International Red Cross doesn't allow blood donations from Britain because of all our mad cows, and rightly so. They are going to be fucked if America finally admits to having an epidemic of BSE, too (in that, I assume the majority, or at least a large proportion, of donated blood comes from North America).
  • doesn't allow blood donations from Britain or the British, I meant to say.
  • dng I spent two years in the Midlands (between '96 & '98 ) and when I came home to Canada, following the mandatory waiting period for international travellers, I wanted to start donating blood. WELL then comes this (scroll down a bit) announcement from Canadian red cross. Funny thing was that the announcement was made in January of 2001 and they were asking that people who are excluded after the October deadline still donate up till then because their blood is still needed. Just made me shake my head in wonder.