'Rigor Mortis' meat is out, but what about 'Cannibal pellets'?

[cliss]

'Mad Cow located in Moses Lake, Washington'. The beef industry has quickly decided to ban the practice of slaughtering 'downer cows', or cows dead on arrival.

It appears that panic has struck the US meat industry. We can judge by the quickness of their response that they realize the seriousnes of the situation. So far, 11 countries have banned imports of American beef.

It was a surprising move from a calcified industry which has shown itself resistant to pleas for change, both from within the industry and from watchdog groups.

http://www.alternet.org/story.htm.?StoryID=17466
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Veneman and her advisors should institute a complete and total ban on feeding any slaughterhouse waste to livestock. You may think this is already the case because that's what industry and government said they did back in the summer of 1997. But beside the cattle blood being legally fed back to cattle, billions of pounds of rendered fat, bloodmeal, meat and bone meal from pigs and poultry are rendered and fed to cattle, and cattle are rendered and fed to other food species, a perfect environment for spreading and amplifying mad cow disease and even for creating new strains of the disease.
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Question: are they addressing this? Or are they wiping their hands clean of the mess? I notice there is no mention of the "cannibal pellets" in the news today. Watch for sweeping under the rug.

Who says Beelzebush doesn't believe in recycling?

[Droopy]

1. This came as news to me the other day

I was talking to my uncle, who used to raise livestock, about mad cow. I was amazed to learn that they actually feed parts of the slaughter back to the cattle. I didn't think they would eat it. But I guess it's mixed in with grains so the cattle don't know the difference. My uncle told me he'd only use whole grain to raise his livestock and wouldn't go for the other stuff. I guess the reason why they use the "cannibal pellets" is because the extra protein makes the cattle beef up better.

[cliss]

4. It does seem weird.

Plus, I believe that cows have 8 stomachs (I think I read that somewhere). This means that the beef mixed with grain is moving through the cow's many stomachs, and it probably sits in the cow's digestion longer than it should.

That's the difference with carnivorous animals. A leopard has a very short intestinal tract. It eats exclusively meat, and the meat goes through the intestines very quickly. If it stayed in there a long time, it would probably ferment or rot and cause the leopard to get sick.

This is the argument they use when they say humans are really not meant to eat meat. We have a long digestive tract, which makes us more suited to eat vegetables, fruit and grains. Meat is supposedly harmful for us because it sits in there too long and becomes toxic.

So imagine a cow, whose digestive tract is suited for digesting grass, now all of a sudden has meat going through. No wonder it got sick.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Is the operative phrase "used to raise livestock"?

My understanding is these animal (read beef) by products have been illegal in cow feed since 1997. The problem is that some feed factories use the same equipment to process cattle feed that they use to process other livestock feed that does contain animal by products and do not clean their equipment very well between processing these differeft feeds.

As to the odds of one catching "Mad cow desease" they're probably pretty low but who can blame one for trying to err on the safe side.

[izzie]

2. Sinclair Lewis is back. I am glad I do not eat meat.

:puke:

[Myra]

3. This has put me off of meat too.

Cows permanently.