Food for thought

[Willowbilly3]

I doubt if anyone loves a good cut of prime rib, bar-b-q, brisket or New York strip as much as I do. But the last couple years I've been more and more aware of what it takes to get that cut of beef. Unless you raise your own or buy some grass fat organic beef it goes like this. To start with, most ranchers would use any kind of chemical that didn't kill the human dead on the spot. This I know from a lifetime of seeing nasty stuff like Warbex and Cooper-tox slathered on the cattle. Then the vaccinations begin. I don't even know what all they get now but by the time a calf is weaned he has had a pretty straight regimen of the best the vaccine companies have to offer, something on the order of 15-20 different vaccines. Then he goes to the feedlot and just so he can survive in a 200x200 pen with 1000 other animals all standing knee deep in their own poo, they have to get antibiotics in their feed and don't forget the growth hormones. Then feed them on genetically engineered corn until they are obese, like a 400# 18 year old kid. And keep in mind the corn farmers don't till the ground anymore, it's better farming with more chemicals to control weeds and bugs. So every time you flop a lip over a gut bomb at Micky-Ds, you are getting all the residue from this wonderful concoction of chemicals and drugs that have been in the animals and in their feed. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, places like Wal-Mart (anyplace that uses those cartons that are way too big for the meat in them) They are using gas and irradiating the meat to keep it the pink color.
And we wonder why there are more and more obese people and cancer and things immune to antibiotics.

 

[Sam_Fear]

You forgot the part where they impregnate the meat with water. We had bacon with water added to it. Crap was spattering grease everywhere.

 

[oldskool]

We grow our own...that way there is no "pink slime". The difference in that and store bought is night and day

 

[bob w]

USA life expectancy in 1930---59.7 years Infant Mortality Rate 6.5%

USA life expectancy in 2010---78.7years Infant Mortality Rate 0.6%

 

[Sam_Fear]

And our corpses last a lot longer too.

 

[earthman]

I have often wondered how we can ingest the toxins in our food nowadays and yet have longer life expectancy like Bob pointed out. It can only be the preservatives right.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Much better medical procedures and occupational safety are a couple factors. I doubt if diet in general is much of a factor in that change.

 

[lvin4jc]

One of the ranches I worked on in MT sprayed diesel fuel right on the backs of the cows to keep the flies off.

Try investigating what happens to chickens from birth until your chicken sandwich, my mom's side of the family raises them over in MD. I've walked through at the end of the day and helped gather the dead chickens with freakish bodies because the hormones cause them to grow faster than their bodies will allow.

Pigs are the obvious choice, Bacon forever!!!

 

[bob w]

I agree WIllowbilly, there's a huge variety of food choices, many of them not so good. But with 8 billion people on the planet food production by necessity cannot be all natural.

Also, I find it remarkable that people in different environments have vastly different diets and still seem to do well. People on the arctic circle and above have little access to fresh fruits, grains and vegetables. Animal fat is supposed to be bad, yet fatty meat is the bulk of the diet.

People can insult their bodies in many ways, for long periods of time and still recover. Smokers and drinkers can reverse much of the damage done. Same probably goes foor food additives, animal medications, etc.

I think the biggest problem is our wealth allows us to treat every meal like a feast. We live to eat, not eat to live. Food education seems to make little difference.

It's a taste bud orgy, and no self discipline. Being overweight isn't the burden it used to be when much of society performed manual labor.

I don't see much possibility for reversing current human behavior regarding food.

 

[donsrods]

I think you guys are worrying too much about what that stuff does to you. Look at Bill Hines, just celebrated his 90th birthday, smokes one cigar after another and has ingested more lead than any human being alive (or dead).

Besides, living forever is highly overated.


Don

 

[Neverdone]

OK

In defense of the farmers............. coming from a former dairy farmer.

I worked on a dairy my senior year of high school until right up to before I graduated college. Out there in the sun, rain, hail, snow, whatever busting my a$$ so that you people had food to eat and milk to drink for you to sit there and complain about it. Take a walk on their side before you complain about how things are done.

NOT ALL FARMS ARE LIKE THAT!!!

Granted we were not a big farm, 1600 acres, about 80+ milk cows, about the same in heifers/dry cows and around 100-150 feeder steers. Calves included the farm on average had around 300 animals at any given time.

I am here to tell you that pumping them full of hormones and vaccines does not happen every where, for one who can afford it?? They were treated if they were sick, that is it!! The biggest thing that was ever done to those cows that was in humane was they were castrated, and the milk cows had their tails docked! But ya know what???? The castration was done for your benefit, with out that the meat is very lean, has no marbling to it and is very tough.

Nor do they get packed in to pens where they couldn't move and are full of sh##. Granted some of the pens aren't as big as they could be, but do you know why they do that? It is actually for your benefit too!!! The more they are out running around the tougher the meat gets.

As for the diesel on the backs of the cows, are you sure thats what that was? If it was don't let the EPA catch them..... We used an actual non toxic fly spray that did smell a lot like diesel but that is not what is was.

I will get off my soap box now.

 

[ssimpala]

I've got to agree with Neverdone. I don't know about dairys but do raise beef cattle....and like he said, we don't use all that crap nor do I know anyone who does. Simple economics prevents using very much...and they don't stand knee deep in the feedlot either...at least not at any of the local feedlots I've been to.

 

[Tim...Ok]

Been around beef cattle most of my life, like Neverdone and ssimpala said..theres not enough profit in it to just just randomly throw drugs and meds at them..they get a few precautionary meds, but as few as possible..my cousin manages a large feedlot in north dakota, pretty much the same think there..they have 2 full time nutritionists on staff, constantly working on different blends of higher quality feed, there is no magical growth hormones involved..they have one crew that uses a fleet of bobcats that does nothing but clean pens..granted it's tough to keep pens clean when you have 150,000 head of cattle at any given time, but they try..

 

[Stroker McGurk]

I love meat, eggs, butter, cheese etc....but, it will kill you. In the last 2 months, we have changed our diet, red meat once a week, more chicken and fish etc...I have lost 14 lbs and the wife 12.....We are expecting our cholesterol to be down too when we retest next month.....and, we feel 100% better..Just sayin'

 

[hotrod preacher]

all this talk about meat is making me hungry[dr


throw some meat on the grill and ice down some pepsi... its supper time![cl

 

[lvin4jc]

As for the diesel on the backs of the cows, are you sure thats what that was? If it was don't let the EPA catch them..... We used an actual non toxic fly spray that did smell a lot like diesel but that is not what is was.

#2 Red dyed off road diesel, watched him pump it myself.

 

[offroadrolls]

Omnivores Dilema

is the name of a book on the subject of food in this country. One of my favorite lines was " a Chicken McNugget contains 28 ingredients, the least of which is chicken" check it out @ http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/

 

[CR55]

#2 Red dyed off road diesel, watched him pump it myself.

Just because one person is doing it doesn't mean everyone does it! I agree with the majority of responses about the way cattle are raised...its a sad method of torture, especially veal cattle..all for the benefit of man. One of my sons worked on a dairy farm for about 2years...nothing was injected into them unless as was stated before, they were sick....too expensive!!! This particular dairy farm was kept extremely clean...don't know about the others but I'll bet most of them are because of the constant checks by government officials. And yes its funny how some peoples diets consist of items that seem to kill others....had an uncle who smoked El Productos non stop and survived on bologna sandwiches.....he lived until 92 with no medical problems!!![S

 

[Willowbilly3]

Been around beef cattle most of my life, like Neverdone and ssimpala said..theres not enough profit in it to just just randomly throw drugs and meds at them..they get a few precautionary meds, but as few as possible..my cousin manages a large feedlot in north dakota, pretty much the same think there..they have 2 full time nutritionists on staff, constantly working on different blends of higher quality feed, there is no magical growth hormones involved..they have one crew that uses a fleet of bobcats that does nothing but clean pens..granted it's tough to keep pens clean when you have 150,000 head of cattle at any given time, but they try..

I bet if you asked, every critter in that lot had Ral-gro or a similar hormone. It's usually a one time treatment, like a small pellet under the skin in their ear. It means 20% more growth and sadly any feedlot would go broke if they didn't use it.
I'm at enough brandings to know that every calf gets a shot of 7-way and a shot for black leg, at the least, some get more. Then the get a shot for over eating if there is a lot of green grass and another shot when they get pre-conditioned for weaning. I don't even know what that stuff is. Then they all get another round of vaccinations and the growth hormone just before they go into the feedlot.
2 of my sisters are married to ranchers, several nephews and nieces ranch. My brother has a small feedlot and is a brand inspector. My other brother in law is a cattle broker and just sold a big feedlot that he owned for several years. I was raised on a ranch and operated farm/ranches myself. I have studied, read, asked questions and know exactly of what I speak. I am a person in the middle of the industry and I have chosen to limit my beef intake to about once a week because of what I know is in it. I don't eat commercially raised chicken at all, but that's another whole story.

 

[bob w]

So, how long do the medications stay in the meat? Would a chemical analysis of a chunk of steak at the market or a piece of chicken at the Colonel's have indications of these chemicals?
I have no idea; that's why I'm asking.
Considering all the medications I've taken and been given in my lifetime I'd bet a cannibal would still find me delicious.