Is anyone concerned about mad cow disease in the U.S.

[gary b]

Hello everyone,

JUST CURIOUS, what are your thoughts on the risk of POSSIBLY getting sick from eating beef infected with mad cow disease? (especially GROUND beef products) Has anyone here actually stopped eating any beef because of the risk of contracting this disease? I have been thinking about grinding my own beef so I know what parts went into it. Should the U.S. government require testing of more cattle? Are the Japanese prudent in refusing U.S. beef from entering their country? Does the FDA have the interests of the consumer in mind or the cattle industry? How do you folks outside the United States feel the U.S. government is handling this issue?

 

[Raven]

JUST CURIOUS, what are your thoughts on the risk of POSSIBLY getting sick from eating beef infected with mad cow disease?

They say that the only way BSE can be transmitted to humans is if we eat the spinal cord or brain tissue of the cow. That and the fact that as tough as our regulations are there is a very, very slim chance that an infected cow could get into the food chain. Another thing to consider, Bovine Spongeform Encepalitis (BSE) has probably been around for as long as there have been cows. It is only with the modern world-wide media who want to blow everything out of proportion on a slow news day that we have such worries about it.

Has anyone here actually stopped eating any beef because of the risk of contracting this disease?

I haven't nor do I think I would unless the testing process began letting infected animal slip onto the market.

I have been thinking about grinding my own beef so I know what parts went into it.

Unfortunantly they are putting the same things in it that you would, so if you trust your meat supplier enough to accept the material that you are going to grind, why not trust his professionalism enough to go ahead and let him grind it for you? Either way you go you would actually have a much higher probabibilty of contracting E-Coli than BSE.

Should the U.S. government require testing of more cattle?

There's really no reason since the testing they currently have has proven to be quite sufficent. If it works, don't fix it.

Are the Japanese prudent in refusing U.S. beef from entering their country?

Certainly, it's a logical step, just as we did when England had this problem.

Does the FDA have the interests of the consumer in mind or the cattle industry?

Both. It's a very delecate balance. You must be reasonable to both sides. Anything that hurts one will hurt the other.

All in all, BSE is almost pure media hype. Apart from inital over-reactions by the Brittish, there have been no "Major" outbreaks of BSE since it's discovery as far as I know. Far more people have contracted E-Coli from tainted meat than BSE, and getting E-Coli infected meat from the butcher is very rare. Most cases of E-Coli infection result from improper handling in the kitchen.


Don't worry about BSE, use safe handling techniques in the kitchen to prevent cross-contamination of E-Coli, and ignore the Bird Flu until it actually crosses over in Humans.

It's all just the Media being the Media. It's about as believeable as any Schwarzenegger film.

God Bless
~ Raven ~

 

[mugsy27]

very well put raven...and my thoughts exactly (especial about the medai on slow news days).

i do however grind my own chuck steak when i need ground beef...but thats more of a flavor thing than a saftey thing.

 

[Zereh]

I think that it's wise to be very aware of what you eat. Slow news day or not, this is a real issue that people need to be aware of and to take into consideration. Chances are better that there's a lot more to this than we ever get to hear of.

The government and their safety goups have the well-heeled lobbiests in mind way more than they do consumers.

Things with ground up cow bits (i.e. gelatin, "broth" cubes, etc.) are the obvious and easiest things to avoid. Buy "organic" or grain-fed when possible, that way there is no chance that they were fed other animals, since the problem basically comes from animals eating other animals that are infected.


Zereh

 

[SizzlininIN]

Actually no. I don't think about it until someone mentions it or I see something about it in the paper.

 

[cara]

ah... we had this in Germany five years ago... I never stopped eating beef... why should I? I smoke, I drive, I walk out of the house and I even do the housework.
what do you consider to be the most likely way to get killed?

by the way, I love beef and I never got such cheap meat like during that time..

In Germany every cow older than 24months must be tested.. within the last six years they tested several million ones... and found about 200 infected ones....

 

[buckytom]

i thought mad cow disease was another name for pms?

(just kidding ladies. pm your complaints to gb, care of discusscooking.com)

something is gonna get me someday, be it a car accident, a horrid disease, or old age. whatever it is, i'm gonna go out partying and eating and having fun.
so gimme a steak, and da*n the reaper.

btw, the japanese ban with u.s beef has more to do with it than just mad cow. lots of socio-economic and political ramifications.

 

[GB]

pm your complaints to gb, care of discusscooking.com

i don't think my inbox is big enough

I am not worried about mad cow disease. I think they have done a very good job at screening and making sure our meat is safe to eat. The amount of the disease they have found in the US is extremely small and now that they understand how it is transmitted they have taken the needed precautions.

 

[Constance]

Buckytom...what a bad boy you are!
Actually, before I had the hysterectomy, I remember feeling like a mad cow.
It's always been my opinion that every man should have to go through one really awful menstral cycle.

I don't worry about mad cow disease, at least not the way things are now.

 

[gary b]

THATS A GOOD ONE BUCKYTOM . Except for a guy that has a wife with PMS, in which case I feel your pain.

 

[amber]

I dont think much about it. Waiter, may I have a mad cow burger please, and some chicken nuggets infected with bird flu, and a nice chianti please?

 

[Poppinfresh]

I'm not worried about it, no.

Then again, I'm not worried about lightning strikes, drunk drivers or other forms of auto wrecks waiting to happen, bird flu, falling off buildings, parachutes not opening, WMD's (*snicker*), shark attacks, electrocuting myself or any one of the other 4 million things I can encounter that makes me face the final dark.

Life ain't but too frickin' short to spend it worrying about how to prolong it. You worry about keeping it going and all you end up doing is not living while you try to keep alive.

To para-quote the prophet Henry Rollins...if some disease wants to eat me, it can eat me.

(Though on the topic of mad cow--Penn and Teller did a great bit on it during one of their episodes of BS on Showtime)

 

[biev]

I'm concerned about the fact that they don't ALLOW the companies to test every cow for BSE, especially after they have found that one mad cow that didn't look sick, and was only tested because it happened to walk in with the others. There's a documentary about it. I'm trying to find the name right now, I saw it about a year ago.

I mean, I know there's always some kind of scare and it gets old. But I just want the people who make my food to be allowed to TEST it before they sell it to me.

There's a new documentary about it coming out in a few days, called Whistleblower:
http://press.xtvworld.com/article8536.html
I don't know if it will be credible or not, but the first documentary was very good.

 

[Claire]

I guess I'm in the majority here. Every day some new food scare comes out, and then gets turned over, then turned inside out. I just don't pay attention to them any more. I'm 50 years old, and I swear there were foods that were good for me as a child, became bad, then good again. I gave up on worrying that my food was going to kill me ages ago. After living in Florida for a few years, I learned that sooner or later you are not going to be able to enjoy food .... why rush it?

 

[Run_Out]

I don't think about it I got enough problems with wot, school finance, health care, economy, partisan politicians. In fact I am not going to think about any of this stuff anymore and just enjoy my retirement. We get blasted with stuff on a daily basis enough to dirve us crazy.

I through venting
later

 

[Robo410]

salt is bad, pepper doesn't digest, beef is mad, chicken is sick, pork is parasitic, fruits and veggies are tainted with pesticides, bread is fattening, alcohol is evil, fats are sure death, transfats even surer. I think I'll just revert to my childhood and make MUDPIES. Are they safe?? or will I get WORMS.

I buy quality products from people I trust. I try to eat fresh whenever possible. I follow safe handling practices and I am a good cook. If this kills me, (and it will for I am bound to die) oh well! Mount my Santuko on my grave stone.

 

[mudbug]

There is always a market for FEAR.

Just live your life, try not to delibarately hurt anyone, don't drink every cup of Kool-aid that comes along, and you should do OK.