Is it safe to eat beef? Serious question.

[Redleg]

My wife and I stopped eating beef in January due to the mad cow scare. Does anyone here know where that stands now? I haven't heard any news about it but am dying for a nice steak on the grill.

[toddzilla]

1. mad cow was pretty overblown.

think about it. they found i think ONE cow in the US that had it...

[AndyTiedye]

6. It's the Mad COWBOYS That Scare Me!

[jadedcherub]

2. ...

I don't know that it's safer now than it was 3 months ago, but it's safe to eat beef, at least according to the usda.

[Angelus]

3. Dad? Is that you?

Of course it's safe to eat beef. They only found like, what, one cow here that was infected? You don't hear about mad cow anymore, do you?

Yeah, eat it. It's good for ya. :)

[mike_c]

4. a melt-in-your-mouth New York strip....

Yum. Slice rare steak VERY thin and serve with:

1/4 cup white vinegar
2-3 Tbs nuoc mam fish sauce
5-10 thin sliced Thai peppers (bird's eye peppers)

Make dipping sauce about 1 hour in advance to let the flavor develop.

Mad cow, shamd cow.

[eleonora]

14. hmmm pho tai

with rare slices of beef

[TexasProgresive]

5. avoid hamburger

the prions accumulate in the older animals and those most often go to ground beef, sausage, hot dogs etc.

[Archae]

7. Beef is safe, look at me!

I eat lots of beef, and don't have any brain-wasting disease...mllmbher...re-elect Bush! :crazy:

[Donkeyboy75]

8. It's only a matter of time until an outbreak occurs.

The USDA is in the pocket of the meat packers, and there isn't nearly the regulation there should be. I hope I'm wrong about this, but it's just like everything else in politics: reactionary. We'll see something done about this AFTER something horrible happens.

You can buy beef that is wholly grain-fed. That is almost certainly safe to eat.

[politicat]

15. And grassfed is even safer.

Cattle raising is hard on the environment, regardless of the disease issue. Then add in the prion issue that comes from turning herbivores into omnivores and you've got a dangerous situation.

If you can get grass fed beef locally, that's pretty much guaranteed to be safe, and relatively healthy for the human consumer. There are some vegetarian grain fed farms, too, but grass fed is pretty guaranteed.

We get our beef (and we don't eat a lot, since chicken, pork and lamb are less damaging for the environment) from this company. http://lasatergrasslandsbeef.com/

It's not cheap, but it's comparable to what I pay for top quality beef at Whole Foods. And if you're going to eat beef, it might be best to make it a treat, after all.

If you read Fast Food Nation, this is the company that Eric Schlosser talks about when he's talking about how to fix the beef industry.

These folks ( http://www.colemannatural.com/ ) are decent, too, and one of our local fast food companies has switched to their beef entirely - and it's good stuff.

Pcat

[Donkeyboy75]

17. I've read a bit about these farms.

I go to a butcher that gets grain-fed (no animal products whatsoever). Thanks for the heads-up. I'll check 'er out!

And I did read Schlosser's book. It didn't teach me anything new about how disgusting the meat industry is, but I did learn a lot about how the workers were expolited. I avoid fast food like the plague.

[shanti]

19. the chicken industry is just as disgusting

check it out...

[Donkeyboy75]

23. I've read a bit about that as well.

Range chickens for me. Maybe it's silly, but I feel better about eating animals that at least had some semblance of a normal life.

[Kali]

18. skip the grain fed

and find a local producer of grass fed - you will be doing the local farmer, the environment and yourself a good turn. Buy a quarter or half if you have a freezer or go in on one with a friend neighbor or family. You can fit a quarter in most top freezers if it is otherwise completely empty. This is also usually a good source for range raised eggs and chicken.

Small farmers/ranchers need your help. (trust me! talk about corporate wipeout)

[Donkeyboy75]

24. Thanks for the heads-up, kali

:hi:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. I second this but make sure a good butcher cuts it up

[Mikimouse]

9. Only if you kill it first, otherwise the animals tend to get a bit testy!

and its hard to keep them on the grill while they try to gore you.

[Tina H]

10. Life is risk

statistically, if you want to live, don't drive or ride in motor vehicles.

Have one steak for every motor vehicle trip you decide to forego, as a sort of reward for playing it safe.

On edit: speaking as one who lost 50 pounds on Atkins, I have a tough time disputing beef.

[benburch]

11. 2+ Billion people eat beef - 200 have gotten CJD

You are more in danger from E. Coli from undercooked, badly processed beef than Mad Cow. In fact, I'd wager that your gas grill is more dangerous.

[Dookus]

12. It depends on your tolerance for risk

eating beef would probably fall somewhere between flying in a plane and getting hit by a meteorite.

[TroubleMan]

13. If you have to ask....then why take the chance?

Of course it hasn't stopped me yet, but I'm trying to cut back.

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. If you really want to not have to worry....

about the possibility of eating infected beef, I have a suggestion for you.

Find a halal (Muslim equivalent of kosher) butcher in your area. Halal beef is 100% organic and raised on grains and grasses, not feed made from recycled dead cattle (which, as I'm sure you're aware, is the source of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease...cattle eating nervous tissue of other cattle in feed). Not only that, it is generally most reasonably priced, and far less expensive than the organic beef one finds in most stores...I pay $3.99/lb. for tenderloin filet at my nearest halal butcher. And the meat is of quite good quality, too.

[genius]

20. Kucinich has studies that show the meat supply is not safe.

Why do you think they don't want farms to test their beef?

[Dookus]

22. please show us these studies

[Kali]

27. I don't like to be in the position

of defending our current food production system because a lot of it pisses me off, but America has probably the safest food supply in the world. Yes some of our practices are disgusting, that will change as people become aware of the true costs of "cheap" food, but the truth is the food supply is safe especially if you eat a varied diet and in moderation.

The testing is going to be expensive and it is MARKET forces that are why the (big)producers don't want it not because they are hiding something. Because they operate on huge scale/slim margins each additional cost is quickly translated to consumer price and then sales drop. They are totally dependent on selling a lot for low prices.

Pay a little more to your local producer - develop a relationship. Read Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin. That will wake you up as far as "safety" is concerned and who controls what.

[MrSlayer]

21. Yes it's safe, Fire up that grill.

You can't get Mad Cow Disease from eating a steak. If you ate a steak from the maddest cow in the world you'd be fine as long as the brains aren't splattered on it.

[necso]

25. When every animal is tested, then we'll know.

Because of the length of time it takes for the disease to make an animal a downer, many non-downer animals may have MCD. Only testing every animal will indicate how widespread the disease is... which is why the government is resisting it. If the disease is caused by the suspected prion, which is practically indestructible, just about any contact with it, no matter how remote from the source, could cause MCD or its counterpart in humans, although there are those who say that this particular prion cannot effect humans.

[Kali]

28. disagree

if it was that contagious there would be a HELL of a lot more people with it, prion is new territory, NOT well understood. Some work has been done suggesting this thing could even be nutritional.

I wouldn't be too trusting of testing at this early stage of the game anyway. Having said that, as I have ranted about elsewhere, if the freaking customer wants something isn't it incumbant on the seller to try and make the customer happy? I suppose they'll start when the dollars or (lack of) starts talking.

[necso]

30. ?

"If..... could...." hardly constitutes a statement of certainty.

Prions are typically spread through ingestion, although the conditions suspected of being caused by prions can be induced in test specimens by injection of affected nervous tissue, so other forms of transmission are certainly possible. It is entirely possible for the suspected prion to exist for years on/in the ground, where a dead animal has fallen and to be ingested years later by another. Any number of similar chains of exposure can be expostulated, including those resulting from inadequate butchering methods.

As for the effects of the same prion in humans, there is much dispute. Some argue that it would take the better part of a lifetime for the disease to show symptoms in humans (although Kuru might serve as a counterexample to this). Some, as I stated in the original post, dispute that this (or any) prion has effects on humans, or that any such agents even exist.

You do have a point about testing, while there are different tests and some governments put much faith in them, tissue studies best show the symptoms of the disease, at least when fairly advanced, and even then its cause can be disputed. Certainly the brain wasting effects of whatever this is are not particularly desirable. Still using the best tests available to check all animals would at least give us some data and is done elsewhere. We cannot always afford to wait until we are 100% certain to take some action, if only data collection. The suspected prion may be nutritional or harmless, but global warming may not exist or may be good for us. I for one would not put off any action because we are not certain.

Certainly you are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled not to share it.

Oh and I eat beef, hamburger included. There are many things that worry me a great deal more than MCD/BSE.

[mykpart]

29. The mad cow disease is in the brain and spinal column

of the animal. Does not accumulate in muscle tissue. So have a steak. I quit eating hamburger and sausage, but I have recently bought a meat grinder so I can make my own!

[Redleg]

31. Thank you all for the serious comments.

Less thanks for the joking and facetious comments.