Yup. To state that "cow tumors sometimes wind up in [store meat]" is such a colossal freaking lie that it's hard to overstate it. ANY tumor, abscess, infection, discoloration ... Anything that looks weird will get the entire carcass condemned. Straight-up. The USDA is totally unwavering about that.
Yup. To state that "cow tumors sometimes wind up in [store meat]" is such a colossal freaking lie that it's hard to overstate it. ANY tumor, abscess, infection, discoloration ... Anything that looks weird will get the entire carcass condemned. Straight-up. The USDA is totally unwavering about that.
That said -- this is kind of unrelated, but almost not -- I did also talk to another local farmer (he raises black Angus) who told me that he was once at an auction house and there was a guy there who would consistently bid on the skinniest, saddest-looking cattle that walked through. He asked a friend of his who that guy was, and the guy told him that it was the buyer for McDonald's. Not kidding about that one, either.
I would love to believe the USDA was ethical but I used to assume the CDC & FDA were as well, so there’s that. We seem to be living through a time when greed & corruption know no bounds & where a depopulation agenda is A-OK w/ all sorts of government & private entities & businesses.
USDA has its (major) issues, but don't forget -- the inspectors don't get paid by the packing houses. They get paid by the 'Borg. The more meat that the 'Borg can toss into the rendering pile, and keep off the supermarket shelves, the better, in their eyes.
In fact, although it's distasteful, there literally is no real risk in eating an animal tumor. The law exists because the public doesn't like the idea ... And, IMO, because -- again -- it results in much more waste.
I still wouldn’t want to know I was eating it altho no doubt there are bits & pieces of all sorts of things in food that we are aware we’re ingesting. Bugs, for instance!
I don't know, I find it weird that people here on Igor's stack would believe the same corruption and 'looking the other way' found in, say, big pharma, would be absent from anything related to food quality. In my experience in the food biz, I've known some deeply checked out USDA inspectors, and also witnessed them signing off on garbage product. This was not the meat industry, is all I'll say, but there is plenty of bribery and plain blindness-for-the-sake-of-convenience everywhere, why would understaffed overworked USDA meat inspectors be angels?
And I've seen tumors found in whole fish at the meat counter that the butcher just cut out, selling the rest of the fish. What are the chances the kid at the meat counter knows the law, or, knowing about it, cares?
We are getting some of those cancerous animals, even organic, even grass-fed. It's uncomfortable to imagine, because our food is so fundamental to us and we like to think we have the ability to make safe choices, but...no way there aren't the occasional diseased animals in the mix.
I think that what's safest to assume is that whatever the shittiest thing you can think of happening is indeed happening -- and worse -- if the government is somehow involved. That being said ...
Yes, I'd buy that a checked-out USDA inspector might miss a thing or two, but -- I have direct personal experience with both the USDA, and with the relationships between .gov inspectors and small businesses. I also know a couple of things about high-volume quality-control processes. To imply that tumors "wind up in store-bought" meat with any real regularity is, IMO, a blatant, flat-out lie, propagated by the anti-meat crowd -- the same ones who screamed years ago that "pus" is found in milk, because some somatic cells are WBCs. That's a lie. (Even MORE absurd is the audacity that these people have to say that out of one side of their mouth, then turn around and, out of the other side of their mouth, try to get ahead of the inevitable backlash against their fake meat by saying, "... it’s all too easy to imagine misleading Fox News chyrons about chicken tumors and cancer burgers." THEY LITERALLY JUST DID THE THING THAT THEY ARE PREEMPTIVELY ACCUSING "FOX NEWS" OF DOING. Go, 'Borg, go.)
The federal government funds USDA inspection. If an inspector is not available, the plant does not simply continue to operate at low capacity, or without an inspector present. It is shut down. My home state has VERY few USDA-licensed meat processing facilities for that reason.
Now, I'm sure as shit not one to defend Big Ag, here. I am no fan of the poor-quality meat produced via inhumane animal treatment that makes up the majority of what's on the shelves. I do, however, have inside awareness of the workings of that particular industry, and I feel fairly confident in saying that tumor-infested meat is probably not its biggest problem.
The best solution, IMO? ... Buy LOCAL meat from a farmer that you can actually talk to, or better yet, for the fullest, best, and most rewarding experience -- raise and butcher it yourself.
Yup. To state that "cow tumors sometimes wind up in [store meat]" is such a colossal freaking lie that it's hard to overstate it. ANY tumor, abscess, infection, discoloration ... Anything that looks weird will get the entire carcass condemned. Straight-up. The USDA is totally unwavering about that.
That said -- this is kind of unrelated, but almost not -- I did also talk to another local farmer (he raises black Angus) who told me that he was once at an auction house and there was a guy there who would consistently bid on the skinniest, saddest-looking cattle that walked through. He asked a friend of his who that guy was, and the guy told him that it was the buyer for McDonald's. Not kidding about that one, either.
OMG that’s so gross.
I would love to believe the USDA was ethical but I used to assume the CDC & FDA were as well, so there’s that. We seem to be living through a time when greed & corruption know no bounds & where a depopulation agenda is A-OK w/ all sorts of government & private entities & businesses.
YOU ANT SEEN NOTHING YET, compaired to what's coming this is a walk on the beach.
Cindi, trust no-one, question everything! been doing it 60 years.
USDA has its (major) issues, but don't forget -- the inspectors don't get paid by the packing houses. They get paid by the 'Borg. The more meat that the 'Borg can toss into the rendering pile, and keep off the supermarket shelves, the better, in their eyes.
In fact, although it's distasteful, there literally is no real risk in eating an animal tumor. The law exists because the public doesn't like the idea ... And, IMO, because -- again -- it results in much more waste.
So ... There's that.
I still wouldn’t want to know I was eating it altho no doubt there are bits & pieces of all sorts of things in food that we are aware we’re ingesting. Bugs, for instance!
I don't know, I find it weird that people here on Igor's stack would believe the same corruption and 'looking the other way' found in, say, big pharma, would be absent from anything related to food quality. In my experience in the food biz, I've known some deeply checked out USDA inspectors, and also witnessed them signing off on garbage product. This was not the meat industry, is all I'll say, but there is plenty of bribery and plain blindness-for-the-sake-of-convenience everywhere, why would understaffed overworked USDA meat inspectors be angels?
And I've seen tumors found in whole fish at the meat counter that the butcher just cut out, selling the rest of the fish. What are the chances the kid at the meat counter knows the law, or, knowing about it, cares?
We are getting some of those cancerous animals, even organic, even grass-fed. It's uncomfortable to imagine, because our food is so fundamental to us and we like to think we have the ability to make safe choices, but...no way there aren't the occasional diseased animals in the mix.
I think that what's safest to assume is that whatever the shittiest thing you can think of happening is indeed happening -- and worse -- if the government is somehow involved. That being said ...
Yes, I'd buy that a checked-out USDA inspector might miss a thing or two, but -- I have direct personal experience with both the USDA, and with the relationships between .gov inspectors and small businesses. I also know a couple of things about high-volume quality-control processes. To imply that tumors "wind up in store-bought" meat with any real regularity is, IMO, a blatant, flat-out lie, propagated by the anti-meat crowd -- the same ones who screamed years ago that "pus" is found in milk, because some somatic cells are WBCs. That's a lie. (Even MORE absurd is the audacity that these people have to say that out of one side of their mouth, then turn around and, out of the other side of their mouth, try to get ahead of the inevitable backlash against their fake meat by saying, "... it’s all too easy to imagine misleading Fox News chyrons about chicken tumors and cancer burgers." THEY LITERALLY JUST DID THE THING THAT THEY ARE PREEMPTIVELY ACCUSING "FOX NEWS" OF DOING. Go, 'Borg, go.)
The federal government funds USDA inspection. If an inspector is not available, the plant does not simply continue to operate at low capacity, or without an inspector present. It is shut down. My home state has VERY few USDA-licensed meat processing facilities for that reason.
Now, I'm sure as shit not one to defend Big Ag, here. I am no fan of the poor-quality meat produced via inhumane animal treatment that makes up the majority of what's on the shelves. I do, however, have inside awareness of the workings of that particular industry, and I feel fairly confident in saying that tumor-infested meat is probably not its biggest problem.
The best solution, IMO? ... Buy LOCAL meat from a farmer that you can actually talk to, or better yet, for the fullest, best, and most rewarding experience -- raise and butcher it yourself.