some fubared brains

Mad Cow Disease Has Already Hit

And it's more widespread than we can possibly imagine. I can't believe the sheer amount of stupidity per column-inch here. It's so bad that the Beef Industry representative is the sanest voice in the herd.

A few choice cuts:
Mr. Daschle said 43 countries required country-of-origin labeling, including Japan. Backers of labeling cited the Japanese requirement, along with the confirmation this week that the diseased cow had been born in Canada, as all the more reason for the United States to adopt a labeling system.
Do you really think that a cow born in Canada but slaughtered in the U.S. isn't going to have a "Made in America" label? Riiiight.
"Without country-of-origin labeling, consumers simply cannot make an informed choice between U.S. and imported food," said Jeff Nesbit, the associate director of the Food Policy Institute of the Consumer Federation of America, an advocacy group. He said the mad cow scare "only highlights this. Consumers have a right to know where their food comes from."
Because here in the US we have such stringent food quality standards, especially when it comes to beef (read Chapter 9 of Fast Food Nation). This statement is somewhat true, in that it will make it easier to find cow parts from more sophisticated countries, where the cattle eat grass instead of pills and meat.
Mr. Grassley said: "You've got this situation that, prior to the ban on imports, we were going to have to satisfy the Japanese government that beef that we sold them originated in the United States. So you've got the ironic situation that if an American consumer wants to buy American-labeled beef, they've got to go to Japan to do it."
Moron.
Chandler Keys, a spokesman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the major organization representing cattlemen in the United States, said there were "huge divisions within the industry" about the wisdom of food labeling.

"We think it's a marketing issue," Mr. Keys said, adding, "It has nothing to do with food safety."
Straight from the cattleman's mouth. Food labeling, like labeling any other product, is all about marketing -- it is absolutely meaningless as an indicator of quality.

If you must have red meat, look for voluntary labels like "Organic" "Grass Fed" "Hormone Free" and "Bison".

By Psydeshow on January 8, 2004 at 9:02am

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