US: Our Beef Is World's Safest

AP Via CNN/Money:

The nation's meat supply is "the safest in the world," a U.S. agriculture official said Monday, seeking to reassure consumers following the recall of 21.7 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E.coli bacteria.

Dr. Richard Raymond, the Agriculture Department's undersecretary of food safety, said that while an investigation found inadequate E.coli safety measures at the Topps Meat plant in New Jersey, where the beef was processed, the government was on top of the problem.

"I think the American meat supply is the safest in the world," Raymond said in an interview on CBS's "The Early Show." "A recall like this does show that we are on the job, we are doing our inspections, our investigation, and we respond when we find problems to make sure that supply is safe."

Read the whole story: AP Via CNN/Money

Comments

[Captain EdwardGraham]

http://www.mad-cow.org/ The Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page

Two cows per thousand in the US are mad!


If you eat meat, you already have to worry about salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter, heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, and cancer, as well as your weight. Now add mad cow disease to the list. The Canadian government has announced that a cow slaughtered in January in Alberta was infected with mad cow disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

This cow was 8 years old, but if she, like most Canadian cows, had been killed before age 2, we would never have known that she had mad cow disease. Since cows are so young when killed, and pigs and chickens are even younger, it’s possible that other animals also have spongy brain disease, but it has not been discovered because animals are slaughtered before they become symptomatic. Why gamble? The best thing that anyone can do for their health and for animals is to adopt a vegetarian diet.

http://www.peta.org/feat/madcow/?c=p_mc0315g&gclid=CKaXl-mC744CFQUoZAodVCQHEQ

[dadw5boys]

Read "FAST FOOD NATION".

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Journalism School's Michael Pollan has a beef with McDonald's antibiotics announcement



BERKELEY - On June 19, the fast-food titan McDonald's announced it would ask its meat suppliers to stop using antibiotics to promote growth, and to cut back on antibiotics used in animals for other purposes. Close to 25 million pounds of antibiotics are fed every year to livestock almost eight times the amount given to humans to treat disease according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The unregulated, widespread use of antibiotics in animals has led to bacteria that are resistant to older drugs such as penicillin and tetracycline, making them less effective in treating sick humans.

McDonald's move was hailed by consumer, environmental, and animal-health advocates alike as a step toward healthier meat production. The NewsCenter asked Michael Pollan, the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, whether he agreed. A renowned science journalist and author of the best-selling book "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World,"

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/mcdonalds_antibiotics.cfm

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Link Eyed Between Beef And Cancer
Tests Show Likely Link Between Growth Hormone And Breast Cancer

CBS) In feed lots across the country, beef cattle are given growth hormones to make them fatter faster, to save money.

Now questions are being raised about one of the most widely-used hormones, Zeranol, a synthetic estrogen implanted in cattle. A series of tests done for the Pentagon show a possible link between breast cancer and Zeranol.

In the lab, researchers at Ohio State University mixed beef from Zeranol-treated cows with human breast cancer cells and saw "significant" cancer cell growth -- in some cases at levels 30 times lower than the government says is safe.

Concerned about possible long-term effects, they write: "consumption of food ... derived from ... animals treated with Zeranol poses a potential health risk to consumers."

"We know that Zeranol and some of the synthetic hormones used in cattle production are estrogens, and we know that breast cancer is dependent upon estrogen," says Lou Guillette, a biologist at the University of Florida.

In his own research, Guillette examined the effects of hormones coming off cattle feedlots and getting into the water. The study, funded by the European Union, which bans beef hormones, found serious damage to the reproductive systems of fish downstream from a Nebraska feedlot.

"It certainly raises a red flag for us," says Guillette. "What it suggests is that there are very potent hormones that are coming off of these feedlots that are going into the environment."


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/20/eveningnews/main554857.shtml

[CintiBlue]

Topps just settled a lawsuit with an eight-year-old girl on August 27, 2007. This stemmed from her poisoning in September 2005.

Go to ecolilitigation.com.

The name Topps sticks out for me because it's like the bubble gum I chewed through childhood, and I felt they had a hugh recall fairly recently but haven't found it yet.

[Captain EdwardGraham]

EU bans beef with growth hormones
Calls on the US, Canada to scrap trade sanctions
By Bloomberg News, 10/16/2003

GENEVA -- The European Union permanently outlawed the import of US and Canadian beef from cattle receiving growth hormones, saying it now has scientific evidence to justify a ban in place since 1989.

The 15-nation bloc urged the United States and Canada to scrap $125 million in tariffs on European products that were imposed after the World Trade Organization ruled in 1998 that the EU failed to prove that such beef poses a health risk.

"I now call on the US and Canada to lift their trade sanctions," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said in a statement. The ban dried up what had been a $500 million market for US beef exporters, who say they use the drugs to help animals gain weight and use feed more efficiently.

The beef-import curbs reflect the EU's better-safe-than-sorry food-safety policy, known as the precautionary principle. The EU is pursuing the same policy in biotechnology, banning the import of genetically engineered foods because of safety concerns and prompting complaints to the WTO by the United States, Canada, and Argentina.

In the beef dispute, the European Commission said it has come up with sufficient proof that meat from animals injected or implanted with the hormones is dangerous to people who consume it, allowing the EU to shut its markets without breaking international trade law.

The United States disputed the EU's statement that new scientific evidence allowed it to ban beef.

"US beef is the safest beef in the world, and European consumers should have the right to enjoy it," the US Trade Representative's office said in an e-mail sent to reporters.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2003/10/16/eu_bans_beef_with_growth_hormones?mode=PF

[Captain EdwardGraham]

In 2005, 32.5 million cattle were slaughtered to provide beef for US consumers .i Scientists believe about two-thirds of American cattle raised in for slaughter today are injected with hormones to make them grow fasterii and America’s dairy cows are given a genetically-engineered hormone called rBGH to increase milk production. These measures mean higher profits for the beef and dairy industries, but what does it mean for consumers? Although the USDA and FDA claim these hormones are safe, there is growing concern that hormone residues in meat and milk might be harmful to human health and the environment.

What's in the Beef?
According to the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health, the use of six natural and artificial growth hormones in beef production poses a potential risk to human health.iii These six hormones include three which are naturally occurring—Oestradiol, Progesterone and Testosterone—and three which are synthetic—Zeranol, Trenbolone, and Melengestrol.

The Committee also questioned whether hormone residues in the meat of "growth enhanced" animals and can disrupt human hormone balance, causing developmental problems, interfering with the reproductive system, and even leading to the development of breast, prostate or colon cancer.iv

Children, pregnant women and the unborn are thought to be most susceptible to these negative health effects. Hormone residues in beef have been implicated in the early onset of puberty in girls, which could put them at greater risk of developing breast and other forms of cancer. The European Union’s Committee reported that as of 1999, no comprehensive studies had been conducted to determine whether hormone residues in meat can be cancer-causing.v

Scientists are also concerned about the environmental impacts of hormone residues in cow manure. Growth promoting hormones not only remain in the meat we consume, but they also pass through the cattle and are excreted in their manure. Aquatic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to hormone residues. Recent studies have demonstrated that exposure to hormones has a substantial effect on the gender and reproductive capacity of fish, throwing off natural cycle.vi


http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones/

[nevergiveup]

US beef is NOT safe--and Bush Co makes sure of that by limiting the staff available for inspections.

The only US beef that you can consume without worry is pasture raised beef from one of the sustainable ranches like Niman Ranch or 5 Dot. Buy beef from ranchers who number and track their cattle from range through slaughter. It tastes better, too.

As long as the US government allows ranchers to feed cattle blood and dead cows to cattle, our beef is "at risk" at best. Cows are not cannibals--but it saves those poor ranchers so much money when they feed the carcasses of dead (often sick) cows to other cows rather than disposing of them properly.

Do not believe anything this Administration's lackeys tell you! Bush Co does nothing but lie, cheat, steal and murder--all in the name of PROFIT.

[totalliberal]

"US: Our Beef Is World's Safest"



And saying so, makes it so.

(No need for inspectors.)

[progressivegreg]

Does anyone reading this work in the meat supply business? I mean the big factories that supply tons of burger all over the country? I ask because I'm not sure of the numbers but the number of cows in just one pound of this stuff is in the thousands I believe. Not one cow makes so many pounds of hamburger but all of this meat from all of these cows goes into one pound of beef. Please correct my post if I'm incorrect..cause as a life long carnivore it's enough to make me consider going vegan.

[twgbonehead]

You're close, but not exactly on the mark. When you buy a pound of ground beef, it most likely came from one, possibly 2 cows.

However, during the process of butchering, the meat from that one cow was hacked up on a table stained with the blood and flesh particles of hundreds of other cows. It was ground in the same grinder as hundreds or thousands of other cows. Any bacteria from any of the other cows has had an ample chance to jump.

Basically, you're getting meat from a cow that "slept with" a thousand other cows, and never used protection.

[dadw5boys]

Read the NAFTA Treaties. Inspections will be cut to zero if Bush is allowed to FAST TRACK the FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS.

[knosiswar]

"I think(he thinks) the American meat supply is the safest in the world(it's hard to know stuff, it's a hard job)," Raymond said in an interview on CBS's "The Early Show." "A recall like this does show that we are on the job(at least we show up to work and answer the phones when people get sick), we are doing our inspections(as much as we can with the 5 inspectors on staff), our investigation(1 investigation this year already), and we respond when we find problems (somebody calls in a problem like 'people are dieing') to make sure that supply is safe."

The recall came after more than a dozen people in eight states fell sick(see, we told you it was safe), and several were confirmed as getting E. coli from Topps products(well, maybe not that safe, but relatively safe, HEY, what's 12 people, we like to call it Collateral Damage in an effort to reduce Government spending on unneccesary 'Wasteful' Spending). Other cases are under investigation(which means the cases are sitting on the desks of our overworked and underpaid team of 5? inspectors who are swamped and hamstringed by corporate lobbyists who have deregulated our industry).