USDA "mad cow" testing incomplete?

[Mabelline]

Okay, I am sure that I was never in danger of any direct attack for my stance, but sometimes the 'Big Picture' loses the fine details. Yes, there's been a massive, industrialized attempt to sell folks feed of the most questionable origin at a low cost. Those who aren't big time could back off from it if it creeped them (and it did, even in my AG classes in 1978). However the problem now appears to be large volume raisers to whom the law is squat. And be that as it may, we still have cattle comin' up pos. after the cutoff for the feed restrictions, and they came from Canada.

I for one would like to hear more about why there is not parity between cattle from the North yonder and the cattle we pay out more to grow and sell. What's up with that? And of course I don't want anyone gettin' sick. What do you take me for? Cargill?

Okay, so I'm a big mouth, and I put my foot squarely in it 99.9% of the time. But I do what I do with the best of intentions, the way I was raised.

I do not see any reason under the sun for good cattle to sell for 15$, especially given your market demand for excellent beef.

And finally, does anyone realise that Japan, ever ready to deny our beef, has had 15 cases of native cattle that were pos.?I don't have the years to hand, but this is far worse than what our presses were chewing on. And recent.

[carswell]

Piling on, Mabelline...

The report that prompted this thread concerns two US animals slaughtered in a upstate New York slaughterhouse; US government documents relating to those animals; and former USDA officials who have decided to sound the alarm. The only direct Canadian connection is the CBC, which broke the story, and me, who happened to hear the report and thought it might be of interest to people south of the border. (My being a US native and having worked many summers in my dad's feed mill — in upstate New York! — and spent lots of time with cattle ranchers in the Southwest only amplified that feeling.) To my surprise, it has proved not to be. United Statesians appear far more interested in gabbing about fluff like the correlation between car makes and drinking habits than in discussing lax meat inspection practices and possible government cover-ups.

[Mabelline]

An old guy I know said if you looked up suppliers in the dictionary, " You'll find 'em between syphilis and sh*t."

worked for me.

The people in the plants have no say. Way back, the workers at Moncrief in Colorado attempted a strike. Their employer, a former governor of Colorado, said he'd fire every striker. He did. Imported a whole new alien workforce.

How do you fight Unca Sam??? He wins.

Edited April 15, 2005 by Mabelline (log)

[Mabelline]

carswell, I appreciate that fact, and all I can say is that the reluctance to make any statements by anyone with a cattle stature is directly commesurate with how much you rely on the US Gov for your leases, etc. The people who speak out are paid in kind, one way or another.

I too lived in the SW and worked for MCElhaney's and Spur Industries. Till I quit. Because I loved raising beef.

[srhcb]

To pervert an old provereb; Perhaps the shit is always browner on the other side of the fence?

[LurkerLoo]

It's unfortunately true, most Americans are more interested in Britney Spear's pregnancy than food safety. I've been following the sparse U.S. media coverage of the mad cow cases for over a year, but since the updates are few, far between, and generally under the radar, I really don't know enough to add to these discussions other than my personal opinions.

I suppose I could say that I've suspected a cover-up all along, but that's not so extraordinary. I do wonder how the beef industry makes sure that none of the major news media either pick up these stories or if they do, that they're buried nice and deep in the back section of the paper.

[nwyles]

It's unfortunately true, most Americans are more interested in Britney Spear's pregnancy than food safety. I've been following the sparse U.S. media coverage of the mad cow cases for over a year, but since the updates are few, far between, and generally under the radar, I really don't know enough to add to these discussions other than my personal opinions.

I suppose I could say that I've suspected a cover-up all along, but that's not so extraordinary. I do wonder how the beef industry makes sure that none of the major news media either pick up these stories or if they do, that they're buried nice and deep in the back section of the paper.

←

MacDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Arby's are larger advertisers than the "Organic Vegetable and Legume Growers Assoc. of America". Follow the money.....................................it will always show you the way.

Edited April 15, 2005 by nwyles (log)

[Gracie'sMama]

There was a lengthy article about this in Vanity Fair 4-6 months ago. It scared me enough that I don't eat beef anymore and I got a doctor's note for my daycare to keep from feeding my toddler anything with beef.

It is frightening how little we know about where our food comes from. It sounds like a horrible way to die.

[nwyles]

There was a lengthy article about this in Vanity Fair 4-6 months ago. It scared me enough that I don't eat beef anymore and I got a doctor's note for my daycare to keep from feeding my toddler anything with beef.

It is frightening how little we know about where our food comes from. It sounds like a horrible way to die.

←

I recall the article. Being a city dweller, you don't really get a clear picture of what this could possibly be like. It is not the picture you have of cattle in the fields that most of us want to believe. These are giant beef factories where the cattle wait to be processed in giant pens, not a blade of grass in sight and a river of munure running through it. Beside this giant beef factory are the massive railyards for moving this product. I wish I had the skill to find the Vanity Fair picture and paste it- It would blow your mind. Now, bear in mind, I own a small steakhouse, but still it gives you cause to reflect on what we are eating and how it is processed.

[carswell]

Visitors to this thread might also find Michael Pollan's "Power Steer," which originally appeared in the March 31, 2002, issue of the New York Times Magazine, a thought-provoking read.

I traveled to Poky [a 37,000-head feedlot in Garden City, Kansas] early in January with the slightly improbable notion of visiting one particular resident: a young black steer that I'd met in the fall on a ranch in Vale, S.D. The steer, in fact, belonged to me. I'd purchased him as an 8-month-old calf from the Blair brothers, Ed and Rich, for $598. I was paying Poky Feeders $1.60 a day for his room, board and meds and hoped to sell him at a profit after he was fattened.

My interest in the steer was not strictly financial, however, or even gustatory, though I plan to retrieve some steaks from the Kansas packing plant where No. 534, as he is known, has an appointment with the stunner in June. No, my primary interest in this animal was educational. I wanted to find out how a modern, industrial steak is produced in America these days, from insemination to slaughter.

The article can be downloaded from the NYT archive for a fee. It's also been widely reprinted on the Web. For example:

http://www.strauscom.com/placements/Newyorktimesbeef.html

http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Power-Steer-Pollan31mar02.htm

http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/course...er%20Steer.html

http://www.healthcoalition.ca/powersteer.html

Edited April 15, 2005 by carswell (log)

[jayt90]

And finally, does anyone realise that Japan, ever ready to deny our beef, has had 15 cases of native cattle that were pos.?I don't have the years to hand, but this is far worse than what our presses were chewing on. And recent.

←

In Japan they test every bovine for BSE when slaughtered. The incidence of BSE is greater in Euorpe, U.K., Canada, and Japan than the U.S., but a greater number of cattle are tested than in the U.S.

Here in Canada, there have been many requests from cattle farmers, ranchers, and consumers to have all adult cattle tested when slaughtered. The government officials whether provincial or federal, have always refused. Why? Because they know more cases of BSE would turn up. Maybelline, your government knows this as well.

[hodge-podge]

In response to Carswell who asked me if I was referring to the US media or US egulleteers about there not being any interest (sorry I haven't posted qoutes before and have screwed around for too long and don't have alot of time).

I am dishearted by both groups. This is not to suggest malice or anything negative. From reading egullet, I have seen how passionate people get about certain subjects (see tramonto vs. trotter for instance). I would hope the community of egullet would be very pissed that the USDA would try and do something like this. At the very least it seems like sloppy testing. At the most, there are deceitful officials who obviously don't give a damn about Americans health. We in Canada have seen the effects first hand of what mad-cow disease has done to our ranchers. I wouldn't want any of that to happen to any other countries ranchers. This is an issue that should be out in the mainstream press, sadly it is ignored.

On another note someone assumed I am from Ontario. That is correct, I currently reside in Toronto.

[Mabelline]

I don't mean to sound as if I don't care about people's safety, or that this country does things safer than that country, but I really protest which news makes it to the public. If you are concerned about your food's safety, go to your ag. sites--Universities, schools of vet. medicine, or plant biology. Just for myself, I think our Sec. of Agriculture is an uninformed idiot, or possibly a paidoff menace. But don't quote me.

The large ag. factories are virtually bulletproof here, thanks to the money they can throw in front of lobbyists. Look at the fights over the rights to patented plants on the growers' sides. The era of the man who can stand and think for himself is drawing to a close. You paddle as hard as you can, then someone opens another spillway.

[pam claughton]

I actually started a thread on this a few months ago, at http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=62234&hl=oprah

I also posted on my blog about it, http://efoodie.typepad.com/efoodie/2005/02...bout_the_w.html

I do think, unfortunately that most Americans don't see this as a real threat. But, in all fairness, it is not being presented to us as one. The USDA is quick to reassure and stress how safe our beef is, yet they are reducing testing.

Well, of course they are. The less cows they test, the less the chance of a positive result.

And we are still feeding cows other dead cows and animals in their feed....yeah, that's what they mean when the feed says 'meat by-products', all kinds of lovely things like rendered dead animals...a percentage of which possibly has the disease and is then being fed to cows, who then develop the disease.

But, if they don't do this, then the price of feed will increase dramatically, as will price of beef, and we can't have that can we?

Oh, most commercial dog and cat food has those same meat 'by-products'. Unless you buy a special kind that costs much more. Which I now do.

Oh, and I only buy organic beef now.

Cuz the truly frightening thing, to me anyway, is that there could be thousands of Americans that have Mad Cow disease now....but we won't know it for another 5 or 10 years.

People wrongly assume that because no one has symptoms, that no one is sick, and that may not be the case.

The frustrating thing, to me, is that this is something that could be rigorously tested for, and most importantly PREVENTED, but prices would rise.

[nwyles]

Cuz the truly frightening thing, to me anyway, is that there could be thousands of Americans that have Mad Cow disease now....but we won't know it for another 5 or 10 years.

People wrongly assume that because no one has symptoms, that no one is sick, and that may not be the case.

The frustrating thing, to me, is that this is something that could be rigorously tested for, and most importantly PREVENTED, but prices would rise.

We could already have this out there, perhaps mis-diagnosed as dementia or Alzheimers or others. Mad Cow Disease is not at the top of the checklist when looking at patients right now, but perhaps in a few years that might be different.

Is that a little out there ?

I do not know.

[Mabelline]

I use alfalfa pellets and sugar beet as a supplemental feed, as well as winter hays of timothy grass and alfalfa. There's no question what are in those. I have been to the mills here in Billings that produce both. There's nothing else added.

Dairy cattle typically get a blended product, either loose ("chop") or cakes. These feeds are the suspected culprits. Until someone can prove a difference that is safe to me, they don't go into any of my animals. I changed the rabbit's food because the mixture was dicey-sounding. He now gets a diet that's safer, I feel.

[Daddy-A]

I do think, unfortunately that most Americans don't see this as a real threat.  But, in all fairness, it is not being presented to us as one. The USDA is quick to reassure and stress how safe our beef is, yet they are reducing testing.

This is what frightens me. Not the testing, or even the disease (although scary in their own right) but the lack of coverage. IMO, the story now is not the supposed cover-up of the positive tests in 1997, but the fact that there was/is virtually no coverage of the story in the American media. The public can't rise up against something that doesn't "exist."

I expect this sort of media manipulation from sources like Fox News, but I had hoped for better from other sources.

A.

[Mabelline]

I feel as if the truly factual investigations never make it to the public. The ones available to the public are either in the vein of "Total Scare of the Week" vein, or the blase "Pass it Off" attitude. If we ever get real knowledge, we become dangerous, ya know?

[Behemoth]

Remember Oprah got sued by the beef industry for $10 million when she brought it up on her show. While she won, it involved a lot of negative publicity and court expense for her and ad revenue loss for her network. I suspect that's a big reason there has been little to no coverage on major networks. They are primarily in the business of keeping their shareholders happy. That pretty much explains a lot of how things work in the U.S.

BTW: seen "The Insider"? Great movie.

Edited for clarity

Edited April 17, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[ghostrider]

You haven't heard from me cuz I just started a new job & don't have time to look at every eG forum daily anymore.

Coincidentally, last week I was reading a back issue of New Scientist, the British mag which for my money is the single most informative publication on the planet.

There was an article from last summer on the possibility of BSE in North America. The consensus was that we're probably seeing only the tip of the iceberg & it's likely that there's a BSE epidemic growing as we speak. The major culprit is widespread violation of current feed content restrictions & lack of enforcement of same; folks have mentioned this in discussions above. Reduction of testing doesn't help, of course.

It's a pattern that's been followed by cattle farmers & nearly every government in every country in the world that now has BSE: too little action until it's too late, because it's more expensive to do the right thing. The US is far from alone in this shameful pattern of behavior. (Those who don't learn from history, even recent history.....)

In fairness, they also mentioned that the incidence of vCJD in humans so far has been less than most disease models predict. But (from a separate article):

THE prospect of a second wave of vCJD cases caused by the BSE epidemic now seems more likely.

All the 142 deaths from the human form of BSE in the UK have so far occurred in people with a set of genes that seems to make them susceptible to the disease. But last week it was reported that someone with a different genotype had been found to be incubating vCJD after dying of other causes (The Lancet, vol 364, p 527). Half of the population has the same genotype, so the discovery is ominous.

- From issue 2460 of New Scientist magazine, 14 August 2004, page 5

Source

I would post a link to the larger article I mentioned above, but it's available only to subscribers to the magazine.

[Jensen]

My memory isn't what it used to be but wasn't there a cluster of brain-wasting deaths on the East Coast of the US a few years back? Family of one of the victims (a woman in her late 20s or early 30s?) was adamant that their relative had died of vCJD but everything was very hush-hush.

Does anyone else remember this?