US Beef Recall

[Lemur]

Yes, Xiahou, I know you believe that most food safety is bunk. However, Mrs. Lemur is convinced that getting beef that has not been treated with lifelong antibiotics and bovine growth hormone may have some small health benefits. Plus, it tastes real good.

Also, it's nice to know that when we slap down our dollars we aren't supporting mindless cruelty. It's harder to do that than you may think.

[Xiahou]

Yes, Xiahou, I know you believe that most food safety is bunk.

I just believe that baseless food fear-mongering is bunk. There are valid concerns for food safety, but much of what makes the press is driven by activists.

However, Mrs. Lemur is convinced that getting beef that has not been treated with lifelong antibiotics and bovine growth hormone may have some small health benefits.

Probably not much- antibiotics are to be administered early enough to be out of the system before slaughter. And bovine growth hormone isn't in a form that affect people. People have been eating these 'mutant' cattle for decades and there's no indication of any side-effects.

Plus, it tastes real good.

That's could be.

Also, it's nice to know that when we slap down our dollars we aren't supporting mindless cruelty. It's harder to do that than you may think.

I don't mind paying a little more for more humane livestock. It's also nice to know that the business in question was busted for what they did.

[Lemur]

Actually, for intensive factory farming, antibiotics are usually fed to the animal for its entire lifespan. It's one of the only ways to keep the animals more-or-less healthy under extremely stressful conditions. Among other things, this practice drastically lessens the effectiveness of our own antibiotics. (To accept this, however, you must also accept that pathogens can evolve.)

As for the assertion that BGH is super-safe for human ingestion, I'd say the jury is still out on that one. The stuff is banned in every developed nation but ours. And if the chemical stew fed to U.S. cows is largely kept away from my daughter, it's possible she won't go into puberty at age eleven. Unproven, but I don't see any reason not to feed her food that resembles what we evolved to digest.

Interestingly, the Humane Society says it picked the slaughterhouse at random. Naturally, the Beef Industry says the video is a freak, a sport, a one-in-a-million, and "nearly all cattle bound for American dinner tables are treated humanely."

I'd rather deal locally and know for sure my money isn't funding pointless evil.

I'm a big believer in capitalism -- where you spend your dollars is where you create opportunity and jobs. Every purchase is a little vote in our system. So the Lemur household drops its money on people who are verifiably humane.

Besides which, I can confidently ask for rare, bleeding meat, something you wouldn't want to do with factory farmed flesh.

[Xiahou]

I'd rather deal locally and know for sure my money isn't funding pointless evil.

I'm a big believer in capitalism -- where you spend your dollars is where you create opportunity and jobs. Every purchase is a little vote in our system. So the Lemur household drops its money on people who are verifiably humane.

That's all well and good- but as you point out, those aren't options available to most people. The trouble is when people get scared over stories like this and give up meat altogether or feel the need to opt for more expensive "organic" foods out safety concerns that are largely baseless. Might not be a problem for you and yours, but people of more meager incomes shouldn't be frightened of healthy foods because of scare-tactics and marketing.

Besides which, I can confidently ask for rare, bleeding meat, something you wouldn't want to do with factory farmed flesh.

I don't really like rare, I'm more a medium-rare guy. Regardless, the majority of steak cuts are from internal parts of the muscle that would not have e.coli. The way they get contaminated is from handling mistakes- which can happen with "farmed flesh" or "boutique meat".Luckily, the bacteria stays on the surface of the steaks- so give the surface enough heat to kill it and you're fine however you want it. Some people like eating raw steaks or tartare and usually get on fine doing so, but for me, I'll take the extra safety that a few brief minutes of cooking gives.

Remember, the biggest problem you face when cooking meats is cross-contamination. I'm sure it doesn't hurt to know your butcher and what kind of business he runs, but either way beef is pretty safe.

edit: To emphasize my earlier point- Food Fears Most Hurt the Poor
and
BST factsheet

[Lemur]

I don't mind the idea of people moving toward organic meat. By definition, this means non-factory farmed food, and I don't see anything but good in that. Factory farms are a relatively recent invention, and there's nothing very good you can say about them.

To be honest, the biggest expense in our way of getting meat hasn't been dollars, but time. We're paying only a fraction more than we would to buy factory farmed meat. The big investment was the research and phone calls the wife made. After her system was set up, the price difference was negligible.

I'm not sure that the uninformed, fear-motivated vegan is any more contemptible than the idiot who wolfs down two to three McDonald's meals per day. Both are functioning from ignorance.

Frankly, the biggest thing most low-income people could do to improve their nutrition would be to cook at home. It's cheaper than fast food and better for you. Getting out of Popeye's or Burger King and instead whipping up something at the stove would be the biggest boost a low-income family could get to its quality of food.

Linking to a junkfood blog, eh?

[Vladimir]

You know, maybe this is the FDA's fault. With all the meat I'm packing they've never been by.

[HoreTore]

I don't really care as much about the quality of the food as I care about the welfare of the animals. And no, I'm not a veggie nutter, I'm a farmer. But my mother taught me not to play with my food. As to the other mistreatment described, as Lemur said, that's sadism, greed and/or laziness. Which are three of the seven deadly sins...

You treat the animals as what they are, living creatures. Yes, they're food, but there's absolutely no reason to make them suffer more than they have to.

[Papewaio]

And if the chemical stew fed to U.S. cows is largely kept away from my daughter, it's possible she won't go into puberty at age eleven. Unproven, but I don't see any reason not to feed her food that resembles what we evolved to digest.

Having a balanced diet might actually lower the age of puberty. So having provider who provides food and a less stressful environment probably has more to do with the lowering age of puberty then hormones in the beef (as noted the US is the only first world country to use them, but they aren't the only one to have a lowering in the age of puberty)... so post WWII wealth and lifestyle might have a larger effect. I wouldn't want to eat food from cannibalistic cattle or ones with growth hormones.

Dad Baboons Help Their Daughters Mature

As for e coli in cattle meat it doesn't penetrate very deep as the lack of porosity of the cattle meat matrix stops them. On the other hand chicken and pork are quite porous so not only do they marinate easier, e coli and other bugs have an easier time of penetrating deep into a chunk of meat, so you need to cook them all the way through.

[Vladimir]

Having a balanced diet might actually lower the age of puberty. So having provider who provides food and a less stressful environment probably has more to do with the lowering age of puberty then hormones in the beef (as noted the US is the only first world country to use them, but they aren't the only one to have a lowering in the age of puberty)... so post WWII wealth and lifestyle might have a larger effect. I wouldn't want to eat food from cannibalistic cattle or ones with growth hormones.

Typical. You probably think the moon landings were real too.

[KukriKhan]

Typical. You probably think the moon landings were real too.

Yanno, Vladimir, you and I bump heads often... but I gotta hand it to you: that was funny. Kudos.

[Vladimir]

Yanno, Vladimir, you and I bump heads often... but I gotta hand it to you: that was funny. Kudos.

You got a beef with me pal?

No, seriously. I have no idea what you're talking about. Is it the horde of attack Pomeranians I have which can see the color blue?

[King Jan III Sobieski]

Where's the beef? Mmm, that's tasted...hey, I feel funny...