The new blood test

[cowman]

Well it is pretty apparent that our spineless government won't buck the American meat mafia and test everything.
However the company that has come up with the new blood test in Colorado is open for business!
I wonder if there would be a "niche" market for beef that had been certified BSE free? Might be worthwhile to invest the $7 or $8 (suggested test price) and do the work our government won't. I mean there must be people out there who want to know they are eating a safe product and not diseased meat?
Apparently you take the test yourself and mix it with something that preserves it for a week. It goes to Colorado by courier. Test results in 24 hours over the internet.

[bulltipper]

I'm not to sure y'all want to test every hd in the country. As I understand it, there is 1 chance in a million of BSE happenin' spontaneously, so that means potentially you'd have 13 cases in Canada alone at any one given time and the merkans have 75 or so. Seeing how every damn border in the world seem to slam shut as so as another case of BSE is reported, wouldn't we just be cuttin' our own throat to test every dang cow???? Probably sometime we should start doin' AFTER the current protocols are changed to something not so knee jerk and disastrous to any Country that reports a case.

The whole thing's mostly media hype B.S. anyway!!

[rusty1]

BULLTIPPER -I'm glad to hear someone seconding my sentiments. The professional way is to do a "risk anyalysis". Properly done we would put this stupid issue behind us as a non-issue. We need some "COWBOY" logic.

[carebear300]

Only trouble being that ranchers and farmers could cure the problem pretty dam quickly but we aren't in charge and aren't the ones that are listened to. Now if we could just get "enough" on our side maybe they would listen.

[enough]

Are farmers not afraid to eat there own beef?

[pandiana]

Enough, what part of 2 per 5.8 million head do you not understand?

[bulltipper]

Why the hell should I be, when there's far greater danger of me dyin' from e-coli from the lettuce that was served with the meal even IF I made a habit of routinely eating high risk material??? Do you know how many people have died from CJD in the world??? 140, including a least 2 long term vegans that they know of. So now, how many people in North America and Europe die before their time, of hamburger disease, flu, aids, asthma, fallin down the stairs and plain old stupidity? Plenty, I'd bet!

Don't know 'bout you, but them odds don't look too bad!

Anybody got some headcheese??? Ain't had any in a while and I got a cravin'!

Later Hoss!

[bulltipper]

Enough- I'm not tryin' to belittle your concerns about the food you eat but most people in primary agriculture understand instinctively that life is nothing but a series of calculated risks.

Some numbers I dug up.

136 total deaths from vCJD in the United Kingdom out of a population of 60,094,648. Odds of dying of vCJD in your lifetime IF you lived ALL your life in the UK 1 in 34,466,048

Odds of Dying in Canada,
SARS, #/yr 44
odds/yr 1 in 1,400,000

plane crash #/yr 62
odds/yr 1 in 508,000

Aids #/yr 136
odds/yr 1 in 232,000

murder #/yr 554
odds/yr 1 in 57,000

heart disease #/yr 57,417
odds/yr 1 in 548

cancer#/yr 67,400
odds 1 in 467

If you wanna see what your odds of dying in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Paranoid is, go here
http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm

[enough]

The items being brought to my attention about beef alarms me. E coli, bse, just to name two. Perhaps we should be more concerned than we are. If just the people in my city stoped eating meat it would be a greater blow to your economy.
Please be honest with me, you can give me all the figures you want, the reality is people die or get sick from eating beef. This in itself is a very scary revelation that you must admit. Now I do eat beef, but my consumption has gone down in the past few months since more awareness has been brought to me. I think if you truly want this to end you need to reach out to people like myself and get me to understand. Do not dance over me with hatred for I feel danger from your product.
I also am not at ease from many other products that are in all our foods, including those put in them after growing. I do feel apprehensive about chemicals and additives for shelf storage.

[bulltipper]

Enough- if you perceive certain things as being too risky to yourself then avoid those risks at all costs. No one can dictate what you have the courage to put in your month, no one but yourself!

Later!

[rusty1]

I think the Pied Piper should have been a 2000 model. My wife has 2 kinds of apples in our cold room. Some picked of the trees in Kelowna the others commercially picked, stored, andtrucked here to IGA. Guess which ones lasted the longest in the cold room. I just wish I knew what the perserviatives do to me in the long run.

[Junebug]

It amazes me how concerned people are about the safety of the beef (after all the statistics they have), but still lite up that cigarette, or pollute their bodies with alcohol, and/or drugs.
Alcohol is known to kill brain cells, but does this concern the general public. More people have died from Sun induced cancer, but do people panic about this as they are basting in the sun. Some take the precaution supplied by science, other don't care.
More people die in cars accidents every day, but yet many of us encourage and buy our children cars at the age of at least 16, with the hopes they don't kill themselves. I could go on and on about things that are proven to be far more deadly than BSE. Lets get realistic.
This whole BSE thing is out of control.
Why can't it be treated like any other disease we have to contend with. Take the measures necessary and carry on as normal.

[cakadu]

Enough - food safety is a concern for all of us and should not be taken lightly. You are right to ask - as all people (consumers) should be.

E-coli is a surface bacteria and if you handle it properly and cook it to the right temperature, you will not be harmed. Ground beef is bad because it isn't on the surface anymore, it is throughout the meat and that is why so much of what we hear about e-coli has to do with hamburgers.

Improper handling of food and food surfaces in the home accounts for approximately 65 to 70% of all food safety issues. So don't put cooked meat on the same plate that you had the raw meat on, just for a start.

Water is another source of contaimination for various diseases as we all know.

Nothing we do in this life comes without risk of some sort. How much risk each individual takes is variable. Personally, I look at things on a case by case basis and decide for myself. My food is one of the things that I don't take many chances with and as I learn more, I take less chances.

I have to say that I am not in the slightest worried about BSE - mostly because I know that I will never eat those things that are considered to be the highest risk - i.e. brain, spinal cord etc. I'm also not worried about e-coli because I practice as much food safety as I can - much to my husband's chagrin our hamburger is thoroughly cooked now - and I try to minimize cross-contamination as much as possible.

Keep asking your questions - the more informed we can get you, the better off we all are.

[cowman]

Well I have to agree with enough on this one. And like he says he represents the majority! Well maybe not yet because people are still buying beef. When will the stampede start to stop eating beef? When we get another case? Or two or three? Or will it be when people start getting vCJD? Will it take a picture of some young girl flopping around like a chicken with her head cut off, on television?
How will we keep our customers then? Will we dazzle them with facts and figures? Oh the chances of getting this are slim sort of thing? Will they continue to buy that?
Now the diehard beef eaters will still eat beef, but if they are given a choice between certified BSE free beef and no test beef which do you think they will choose?

[carebear300]

Good point cowman you should have been a politician, they way you can explain things and put them in perspective. I agree!!!!!