Lori

is it safe to eat meat on london?

xxx

not for the cow

gigi

I think the real problems with British meat were in the 80's- a Canadian citizen just died from CJ disease, and I think it was determined he got it from meat eaten in Britian in the 80's. Scary stuff- this disease can take years to manifest any symptoms. Supposedly things are safer now. Of course, there are still things like hormones and antibiotics to worry about...

Bill

I heard about a guy who got a chicken bone caught in his throat once and died.<BR>

gigi

CJ stands for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human version of mad-cow disease. I've heard that some scientists predict there may be thousands of cases in the next ten-twenty years. This disease literally rots your brain. I guess it may sound funny now to ask if eating meat is safe, but IMHO it's a legitimate question.

spoon

Nobody ever answers the question!<BR><BR>You can't be sure 100% but I would say yes.<BR><BR>Brief overview<BR><BR>Sheep are commonly infected with scrapie, a disease of the brain and nervous system. This has rarely been known to "cross the species barrier" and infect humans.<BR><BR>Some dumb-arses (who are probably now working for Monsanto)decided it would be a cheap idea to feed sheep to cows, and voila! scrapie crosses the species barrier and turns up in cows as BSE (bovine spongiform encephasomethingorother).<BR><BR>Thinking along the same cheap lines, food processing companies come up with the idea of "mechanically recovered meat" which involves washing down the carcasses of cows with a pressure hose and putting the dregs into pies, burgers and sausages. This meant that BSE infected brain and spinal cord material found its way into human food.<BR><BR>Hey presto and voila! in a flash the disease once more crosses the species barrier and appears in humans as New Variant Creutzfeldt disease.<BR><BR>To return to the question of safety:<BR><BR>All BSE infected cows were destroyed, as well as all cows over a certain age from infected herds.<BR><BR>The practice of mechanically recovering meat is illegal.<BR><BR>All abattoirs are inspected to make sure that brain and spinal cord material is not getting mixed with any meat products.<BR><BR>Once more, you can't say 100%, but the UK now has the tightest controls on BSE in the world (vous m'entendez, les grenouilles?).<BR><BR>If you are still concerned; only beef products are an issue, most people infected with CJD are believed to have caught it from processed beef. i.e cheap mince, burgers, pies, sausages etc.<BR><BR>Scotland was never infected.<BR><BR>So, in descending order;<BR>Avoid beef completely<BR>Avoid processed beef<BR>Go for organic beef <BR>Go for Scottish beef (not in an Aberdeen Steak house if you have any dignity)<BR>Go for Farm Assured beef (extra high quality control)<BR><BR>Hope this answers your question.<BR><BR>

spoon

Oh, and obviously feeding sheep to cows has now stopped, although putting fish genes into tomatoes and the like is still considered a really smart idea.

david west

All I can say is that I do without any qualms.<BR><BR>

spoon

As an afterthought, it is interesting to note that US beef is banned throughout Europe, probably because some idiot has spliced tomato or fish genes into their DNA.

John B.

Great info. Here in Canada you can't give blood if you have lived in England or France for,I believe, a cumulative total of six? months over the past five years. Got cut off this year because I was over the limit!

spoon

Interesting article in the evening standard.<BR><BR>the uk is going to import human blood from the us because of worries about cjd

gag

As a non-meat eating person,I must say that I am not comforted by the thought that an abbatoir is inspected for leftover brain and spinal cord matter.<BR> Does that not turn the stomach of anyone? And then you want to go out and eat a piece or meat?????

david west

Britain won't import blood products from the USA as we're over worried about AIDS. The US won't import UK blood as they're terrified of vCJD.<BR><BR>Both are wrong.<BR><BR>American beef is banned in the EU (Not just UK) because of the high levels of growth hormones in it.

spoon

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020816/80/d7kpx.html<BR><BR>http://www.mad-cow.org/~tom/ban_on_US_beef.html<BR><BR>In reply to gag, as a lapsed veggie who will confess guilt to eating meat if pushed, there are three types of veggie.<BR><BR>1) Those who simply don't like meat.<BR>2) Those who find the idea gross.<BR>3) Those who find it immoral.<BR><BR>Only the arguments of the latter carry any weight.<BR><BR>The fact that surgery is gross couldn't be used as an argument against it. <BR>

gag

Surgery???<BR>I find the act of 'eating' flesh gross.<BR>I think that animals have proven that one does not need to be a carnivore to survive-gorillas being an excellent example.<BR>"lapsed" veggie-at least you tried

Ruth

I see that Britain is about to use imported frozen plasma from the US for all transfusions to the under 6s, to remove the theoretical risk of vCJD for this age group (who missed eating BSE-infected meat in the 80s and early 90s). We've already been importing certain blood products and removing white cells from local blood donations.<BR><BR>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2196659.stm

guilty

I, sadly, am also a 'lapsed' veggie. I stood three years vegetarianism, tried hard (not hard enough, I suppose). I just couldnt stand any more plates of vegetables dressed up, it was so tasteless. I feel hypocritical, as I am a member of various animal charities, give money, and do volunteer work for one of them, I still love animals. GUILT, GUILT. Anyway, not answering the Mad Cow question am I? just whining, but I got it off my chest. (

oooh

Now don't be putting down those hormone injected bovines we have over here. There is a theory that those hormones have cause an increase in the average natural breast size of the young american female. Something must be causing it!

E. Nuff Alredi

Now, now, gag, before any veggies get on your high-horses, you might be interested to know that you’re more likely to come down with some horrid ailment via E.coli, or even E. Boli (sp) from veggies and fruits than you’re ever likely to come down with BSE or CJ from eating beef or lamb. In the States much of our produce comes from Mexico and South America. That means animal dung on the crops. <BR><BR>Feces. And believe me, we can only hope that they limit that to the animal variety.<BR><BR>I live in a part of the world that produces more wheat and corn in a few counties than some entire countries produce. We literally feed the world. But don’t think for a moment that the grain which is stored up to 2 years (or more) is “safe”. We put chemicals on it. Why? Just to ruin your life? Nope. Because if the chemicals weren’t used the majority of the crop would be destroyed by rodents, insects, fungus or some other rampant parasite/bacteria. There is absolutely no evidence that the fellow eating a steak next to you is in any way, shape, or form more likely to suffer injury or death from something untoward than you are eating your blueberries, cheese, bread, whatever.<BR><BR>(By the by, want a real gross-out? Look at the enzymes used to make cheese…rather, look where some of them come from. I’m not joking when I tell you that beef packing plants do a rousing business in bovine rectums. There’s a reason for that deary.)<BR><BR>Oh yeah, since there is no known way to destroy the BSE bug (fire, disinfectants, no known chemicals will do it) be extra cautious when you have that Jell-O for dessert. You know where gelatin comes from, eh? Oops, it’s also in most breath mints, pills, tablets, oh no!<BR>

gag

Don't eat Jello or things with gelatin in them.<BR>Don't eat cheeses that are cured in intestines.Mozzerella being one.<BR>Being vegetarian isn't the weird phase some people go through in their college years anymore,I have been a vegetarian now for 30 years.I am in great health,look good,and feel great.<BR>Maybe that would have happened if I ate red meat too,but I will never know.<BR>I do know that the risk of colon cancer is cut drastically for those like myself.<BR>and Heart disease,and of course Mad Cow Contaminationps&gt;<BR>I hardly ever eat "veggies dressed up".<BR>Lunch today-tomato and avacado sandwiches on whole wheat bread.<BR>Potato salad with black beans and corn.<BR>Sweet iced tea.with mint.<BR>