09 Mar 2008
Just How Safe Is Our Meat?

Two pages detailing how shoddy the inspection system really is, how understaffed the USDA is, and how we're all at risk of every disease with a food borne vector because of it. Then comes the final paragraph:

Not to be entirely eclipsed by policy issues is the question of proper farming practice. In December, researchers at Kansas State University found that cattle fed with distiller's grain, an ethanol byproduct, are more likely to carry the strain of E. coli that causes illness in humans. With ethanol demand booming, plants have turned to distiller's grain as a cheap feed source. But like other farming practices designed to more quickly fatten cattle, it may also be contributing to more risky meat as cattle become more prone to illness.

I suppose I should be content that they noticed the real cause of the current "crisis" at all. But somehow, I'm not.

The picture is mixed, but calls for better inspection grow louder.

(link) [U.S. News & World Report]

09:05 /Agriculture | 1 comment | permanent link