# Mad cow disease phobia?



## masteraznchefjr (Jul 4, 2005)

my family except me has a mad cow disease phobia so they don't buy any more beef! do you guys have that phobia?


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## pdswife (Jul 4, 2005)

Nope!

Beef is still on the top of my grocery list every week.


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## Barbara L (Jul 4, 2005)

Still beef eaters here!

 Barbara


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## luvs (Jul 4, 2005)

i  have at least a steak a week!


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## Zereh (Jul 4, 2005)

If an animal is raised and labeled "organic", and fed only grains and grass, the odds of it carrying the mutant protein are zero. That mutant protein can only be carried by animals who have ingested ground up bits of other animals who were carriers. Nasty stuff. 

Supposedly those potentially dangerous ground up cow bits (specifically the brain and spinal cord tissue) can only be fed to chickens, pigs and pets in the US. But as with most big industries, what is supposed to happen and what really does happen are two different things. 

I think people are wise to be cautious. =) I also think you're blessed to be surrounded by people who care. 


Z


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## Lugaru (Jul 4, 2005)

Same here, Im not too concerned. I tend to get my beef in LARGE chunks which really reduces my odds of getting anything bad and also for ground beef I go for good sources.


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## Paint (Jul 4, 2005)

I used to be a food microbiologist back in England, so we stopped eating beef as soon as the CDC reports started coming out way back in the 80's (long before the public knew....) - most of the staff at our micro lab stopped eating beef then.  We were beef-free for several years and only really started eating it again when we moved to the USA around 5 years ago.....now it's over here too!  We are still eating beef at the moment, but I only buy very good quality steak & ground beef, and only beef-free sausages & hot dogs.  The biggest risk is from cheap beef products with mechanically separated gunk in them (think bratwurst, hotdogs, cheap burgers, cheap frozen meals...)

Incidentally, they still won't accept me as a blood donor over here because I'm British and they think we've all got mad cow disease....I told them I was a mad cow anyway and they wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I HAD got it LOL!

Paint.


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## Ishbel (Jul 4, 2005)

I have always bought organic beef, and only Aberdeen Angus beef.  No case of vCJD has ever been found in the Scottish herds.

My children were never allowed cheap hamburgers, like MacDonalds and those strange pink discs that one can buy from burger vans here - so when the scare was at its height here in the UK, I had no concerns.   

I have no problems with eating beef - but good beef costs a lot here!


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## lindatooo (Jul 4, 2005)

I'm sorta tired of all the food scares - bacon would kill you, coffee would kill you, chicken would kill you, eggs would kill you - none of these things (in moderation of course) will kill you.  Margarine was supposed to be better for you than butter because of cholesteral - now butter is better and margarine is bad.

Like most of you I buy my food from reputable sources and cook it properly and as Paint said I'm the only mad cow around here!


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## tancowgirl2000 (Jul 4, 2005)

You know....if everyone just quit worrying so much there wouldnt be a problem.  As a kid some 20 years ago I used to eat raw hamburger all the time while preparing it....ok maybe not a full 20 years ago...anyways, I think if a carnivore eats what it is supposed to and a herbavore it's what it is supposed there should be no problem.  Since when are cattle carnivores anyways???  Who in there right mind would feed cattle or horses any meat products???  No maky sence to me.  

We are full out beef eaters, and even when it was in our back door....Alberta you know.....we never stopped.  If everyone stopped there would be no support for our farmers and ranchers.  Which would mean no food anywhere.  Most ranchers also farm, if we were to shut down the cattle ranchers, then what?  Do you really think our food comes off of a shelf?  It ALL comes from the land.  

SUPPORT BEEF!!!!


WOW!!!  Where did that all come from....sorry to rattle off so much guys.....


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## Lugaru (Jul 4, 2005)

Paint said:
			
		

> Incidentally, they still won't accept me as a blood donor over here because I'm British and they think we've all got mad cow disease....I told them I was a mad cow anyway and they wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I HAD got it LOL!
> 
> Paint.



Hehehe, I have to deal with that too but because I've gotten both Malaria and Tuberculosis (and I got TB in the US... irony of ironies... it's been eliminated in all 3rd world countries but thrives here). 

Anyway's while I cant directly save lives with my blood you can still donate healthy blood for HIV or other medical research, which is what Im doing right now.


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## Alix (Jul 5, 2005)

Living in Alberta we know a lot about beef. So I would say I eat MORE now than before the scare. We know that if you don't eat any of the spinal column or brain you are safe so we are trying to boost the industry by buying more! I think most Albertans feel that way.


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## kitchenelf (Jul 5, 2005)

Alix said:
			
		

> Living in Alberta we know a lot about beef. So I would say I eat MORE now than before the scare. We know that if you don't eat any of the spinal column or brain you are safe so we are trying to boost the industry by buying more! I think most Albertans feel that way.



But your beef wears hip waders


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## IcyMist (Jul 5, 2005)

We still eat beef, but not nearly as much as we use to 10 years ago.  We are eating more chicken and veggies because is suppose to be healthier and since I grind my own meat, I don't have to worry about what is left over in the butcher's grinder, etc. and even though I havent made my own sausage yet, am seriously wanting to try it because I bet it is tastier than the stuff you get from the store anyway.  All I have to do is find some good recipes AND where to get the casings.  I have no clue where to get those.  Maybe I will start out with patties only.  We do what we can to cut down on chances of getting bad meat, but it really is in God's hands.


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## jennyema (Jul 5, 2005)

I still eat beef but avoid the bones as much as possible.  No marrow!!

I guess I am a hypocrite because I still eat a burger now and then.


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## Alix (Jul 5, 2005)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> But your beef wears hip waders


 
Can't post THAT pic here! The Helpers would smack my hands! Heeheehee! Love that beef.


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## mugsy27 (Jul 5, 2005)

someone please correct me if im wrong...but i was told that you cannot get mad cow disease by eating steaks..just ground beef?!?  please o please tell me this is correct.  i can live without burgers, but no merciful god would ever take away my rib-eyes!!!


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## Paint (Jul 5, 2005)

mugsy27 said:
			
		

> someone please correct me if im wrong...but i was told that you cannot get mad cow disease by eating steaks..just ground beef?!? please o please tell me this is correct. i can live without burgers, but no merciful god would ever take away my rib-eyes!!!



Well, the truth is no-one really knows for certain - it can take 20 years for symptoms of the disease to show in humans and so we can't link it to victims eating a certain cut of beef.  The disease is caused by a 'prion' which is a weird infectious agent that is composed only of protein, and of which we know very little about.  Prions are highly resistant to heat, radiation and disinfectants and there is no treatment for the disease at present.  To give an example of how difficult these things are to kill, laboratories have to autoclave them in a highly concentrated solution of sodium hydroxide - so normal cooking techniques (even pressure cooking) will have no effect on them.  

Even if you gave up eating beef now, you could have been infected many years ago and still not be showing any symptoms....and no-one seems to be concerned about eating lamb, which is known to be the transmission agent for the disease in cows (cows are fed foodstuffs containing sheep brain etc., and 'scrapie' in sheep is caused by the same prion as mad cow disease in cows and Creutzfeld Jacob disease in humans).

The good news is that it is very, very rare, less than 1 in a million chance of contracting the disease from eating contaminated meat.  

At the moment, Microbiologists are really just making 'most likely' hypotheses about what meat might be unsafe to eat. 

Paint.


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## middie (Jul 5, 2005)

i'm not worried about it. personally i don't think the cow had it... i think it's their excuse to jack up the prices of beef again.


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## tancowgirl2000 (Jul 6, 2005)

Nah Middie...it's the BULL!!!! LMAO.....Paint, you are informative....hmmmm.....makes a person wonder....as for Alix's comment...well you go girl!  Albertan's have never before stuck behind their beef as they are now.  It's everyone's livelihoods.  EAT BEEF!@!!!!  

As for the BS in just the ground beef I won't be so quick to hop on that.  Most ground beef comes from the unusable parts for good cuts.  (does that make sense?)  I'd be more apt to say that you are just as safe eating ground as a steak or roast. 

My question is, Why don't they strip the cow of usable meats and toss the head and spinal cord rather than trying to use it?  Why bother?  I know it would effect some cuts of meat but wouldnt it be safer in the long run?


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## Ishbel (Jul 6, 2005)

Mostly the spinal cord etc goes into animal feedstuffs which then got fed (illegally in some cases) to beef herds.

And never underestimate the greediness of the human race - some of the really dodgy stuff gets added as make-weight to meats which goe for processing into cheap burgers, sausages and pies.... BLECH!


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## tweedee (Jul 10, 2005)

Nope, no phobia in our house. Our favorite meat is beef.


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