I never thought much about this kind of stuff until I moved to Taiwan and started working at the newspapers. But Taiwanese pay a lot of attention to things like where their beef and other food products come from. And that increased awareness is very, very bad for U.S. beef.
Every time a new case of mad cow disease is reported in the U.S., American beef sales in Taiwan take a hit. It’s just automatic. It got so bad a few years ago that Subway stopped selling the steak and cheese sub — one of my favorites BTW. They are a U.S. firm used to dealing with U.S. suppliers, but the Taiwan public would not buy the sub if it used American beef. Subway seemed pretty rigid about the supply, so they had to just pull the sub. Why not just switch to a beef supply from another country? The model is too rigid.
Taiwanese can’t wrap their heads around the fact that dead cows are “rendered” and then made into feed for other cows, which then leads to cases of mad cow disease. Who can blame them? It’s sick and completely unnecessary. Why does the U.S. agricultural industry do such amazingly stupid things like this?
So here we have more news from the FDA: meat from the offspring of cloned cows will now be sold without any labeling to warn the consumer. Why no labeling? Because industry knows that no one will buy it if it’s labeled. So their need to make money trumps your need to know what goes in your body.
The FDA’s whole take on this issue is telling — they’ve decided it’s safe so they’ve taken the power to decide away from you. This beef can now be used in all kinds of beef products, and you’ll have no way of knowing it’s even in there. Actually, the ruling applies to all meat and dairy products. So everything from the hotdog at the baseball game to alfredo sauce is affected.
I’ve talked with some foreign friends and they don’t see what the big deal is. I was surprised at my friend that owns a restaurant here. He said that mad cow is no big deal. Just thoroughly cook the meat and there’s no risk of getting the disease. But that still seems like a pretty big risk to me. You’re putting your life in the hands of a cook that is making a few bucks an hour because the meat’s not safe.
Is that a good idea?
I’ve definitely come around to the Taiwanese way of thinking in regards to this issue.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Bruce // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Cooking the meat won’t kill the prion that causes the disease- it’s really tough!
2 Joseph Crandall // Jan 18, 2008 at 10:22 pm
American beef is regulated by FDA and Dept of Agriculture, which both have entirely different and contradictory rules concerning MAD Cow disease. Both are pissed at each other for stepping on each others toes. There will be no consensus anytime soon. I work for a company that makes testing kits for Mad Cow. We would love to be selling these to American Farmers. American Farmers would love to be using out kits. Dept of Ag says no can do.
3 Joe // Jan 18, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Indeed, cooking is no protection from mad cow: http://www.uwex.edu/news/2002/10/chronic-wasting-disease-and-consumer-concerns
4 Dojo Rat // Jan 19, 2008 at 1:24 am
Exactly right;
There are companies that want to offer 100% tested meat for export and domestic sale. The USDA will NOT allow it. Now, there is a great demand and niche market for grass-fed range cattle. Small ranches are doing much better. Still no testing. Bird Flu next?
WE are also concerned that the government won’t allow or require “country of origin labeling”. This applies to all foods, and they won’t allow it…
Fortunately I have lived in very rural areas for many years, and ran a couple of small farms. We have grown lots of our vegetables, and bought naturally grown meat from our neighbors.
5 Q // Jan 19, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Frankly I never liked “American beef.” To be more accurately though, I don’t like American beef from California. They come from really fat, disgustingly raised and hormone injected cows (who came up w/ the idea of feeding herbivores w/ chicken blood and stuff?). OTOH my ex-manager told me Texas beef is the bomb. I couldn’t understand how a lot of Taiwanese view American beef as “groumet” beef just because they’re softer.
6 Hermann // Jan 21, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Totally agreeing with you all. Seems to me that Europeans (Brits, Irish) started to feed sheep flower (grounded meat), so especially in Euorpe, we are afraid of mad cow.
Nice to have the choise of Aussie or New Zealand products, which tast better, anyway.
The shock is, that it’s no question of red or well done, so I’m really happy for my little garden, with lots of vegis since christmas.
Not so much beef, but smuggled pork from China might be worse, same as local chicken or polluted seafood.
But soemtimes I really need some proteins from meat!
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