OT: stop the spread of Mad Cow disease

May interest you to know that Bush and the reps from cattle states have succeeded in eliminating the zero tolerance rule for fecal contamination of meat. Now it has to be a "gross" contamination, meaning the carcass basically has to be covered in it. The beef association is very powerful and spends huge amounts of money to eliminate consumer protections. It is an example of bipartisan corruption. The cattleman own states like Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Iowa and the Dakotas.

Paul

It's mostly the "trash" meat. The meat that's left over from the butchering. That and a lot of sueit or filler made of mostly fat and grain type filler. The same as sausage. The brain and spine is used for the research and then tossed in for the animal by products used for the hormones put back in the feed.

Sorry Kurt.

John

Not quite. You may want to read this:

For example, blood is currently

American *Premium* beer, you've forgotten the true title of the worthless spit which pours from A-B, Coors and Miller.....

Penetrating bolt guns are definately still in use, but some slaughter houses have started using a non-penetrating captive bolt gun. They don't work as well as a penetrating bolt gun on heavy mature bulls so they would still have to use a normal firearm or a penetrating bolt gun for them.

I bet there has been a bunch of research on fast, effective, and clean slaughter techniques since the disease became prevelant in Europe.

tim

good point!

it should have been limited to herbivores raised for human consumption

don't want the carnivores to not meet their protein requirements ;)

- iz

yes, nasty things those prions. I remember reading about them. They're not truly "alive" are they?

- iz

thanks

Mark cited the "Mammalian Protein Feeding Ban", published July 2001

also see the FDA website where CVM regulation of food additives is published at

I forwarded this back to the orginator of the request re: the petition

- iz

While the superficial morphologies of CJD (human form of BSE) and Alzheimers are similar, the disease vary quite a bit in detail. The damage to the brain, as determined at autopsy, is quite different in the two diseases, and CJD tends to progress very much more rapidly than Alzheimers. My mother had sporadic, early-onset Alzheimers-- watching her take ten years to die wasn't pleasant at all. She was only 66 when she died, she was still a working stiff when she became ill. She never had a chance to have "retirement years", or enjoy her grandchildren. But that is drifting *way* off topic...

No, they're "mutated" proteins". Not alive. They just happen to bind to existing, normal proteins in undesirable ways. That's essentially why you can cook the crap out of them and they remain unaltered.

But of course, a virus isn't "technically" alive either...

tah

I certainly hope they still do !

message

They know how to do it, they just don't want to. It's a corrupt industry that puts profits first. And it is corrupt legislatures that allow it. We will have a huge epidemic here one day. It's just a matter of time.

Paul

Yes, they know how to slaughter them safely. The problem is that a safe method takes a little longer and the head and backbone have to be thrown out. That translates into lower profits like you just mentioned.

BTW, many industries are corrupt and put profits ahead of health and safety. This just happens to be the latest one to come under the spotlight. :(

tim

and chicken nuggets

you didn't think that was just chicken breast did you? :(

- iz

thats digusting!

... hey, isn't cheese and yogurt 100% fecal matter?

- iz (loves cheese and yogurt)

I don't eat the stuff, but the wife and kids only eat butchered beef, as it has to be slaughered according to Islamic rites (Halaal) and there's not much prepackaged products of that sort (except corned beef and hot dawgs)

are Hebrew National products safe, ya think?

- iz

does that go for bologna and other "lunchmeats", too ?

- iz

I'm sorry to hear that, Marcus

there is so much random tragedy in the world, I don't see why we have to have people engineering more

- iz

Imagine that... in a capitalist free-enterprise country, industries put profits first. In socialist states, the government corrupts everything. In the end, it's all driven by the stupidity of the people. They buy the cheaper/easier product, and the companies that provide it survive.

that puts profits first. And it is corrupt legislatures that allow it. We will have a huge epidemic here one day. It's just a matter of >time.