You "buy local" people are blithering idiots. Local doesn't mean safer at all. If I had fed my kid local strawberries (oregon) he would have probably died from e. Coli. Poisoning.

One more reason to stop eating beef... it isn't healthy even when it isn't tainted. Not to mention of course how terrible it is for our environment.

Actually, beef is very healthy. The fats are much better for you than the processed posion sold as "vegetable oil". Red meat is still the best source for protein, fat and iron that humans have available. Soy and vegetable oils are just plain dangerous.

LOL, it's the new plan . . . deregulate, deregulate, deregulate . . . let the free market prevail. If businesses produce and sell dangerous and defective products that kill us . . . through no fault of our own . . . demand for the product will decline until they either fix the problem or go out of business . . . it's buyer beware . . . sounds fair to me . . . no . . ?

Watch the documentary Food, Inc.

See who the FDA is in bed with and then you'll understand why we continue to have tainted foods, especially meat.

Yet in Venice, Calif. the SWAT team descends on the owner of Rawsome for selling raw dairy to a closed community (not sold to the public). His bail was set at $123,000. And they destroyed over $30,000 worth of food which included organic fruits and vegetables.

I hardly see how that makes me a blithering idiot. I'd much rather my beef or chicken come from a local farm, grass fed, etc etc. I like being able to drive to the farm and actually choose my cow, go to the local processor to place my order for cuts, and know where everything came from. Much better than the guessing game at the grocery store.

Actually, beef is very healthy. The fats are much better for you than the processed posion sold as "vegetable oil". Red meat is still the best source for protein, fat and iron that humans have available. Soy and vegetable oils are just plain dangerous.

You are in denial. The stuff sold today as "beef" is not anywhere near healthy and has been repeatedly reported to cause many health problems in mainstream health journals. Range-fed (grass), organic beef that has not been injected with every concoction known to the chemical industry is "healthy" but not nearly as much as fresh vegetables. Black rice, brown rice, quinoa, beans, green leafy veggies, most fruits, whole grains and vegetable protein... now that's truly healthy stuff. Stop listening to beef commercials on TV it is killing you! Of course that doesn't even cover the devastating consequences of such high beef consumption in America, namely the high petroleum cost per pound of beef and the very high level of greenhouse gas emissions by beef cattle and the ubiquitous clear-cutting of grazing land to feed them all. Beef is just not a sustainable solution for most people and the government should stop subsidizing it so highly. If people want to eat beef they should pay the market price for it. Stop cattle farm and dairy industry welfare!

TheOverlord - bla blah blah. Apparently, you don't know very much about growth hormones, antibiotics and their metabolites other than what you have gleaned from the alarmist propaganda provided by your local vegan group. Genetic modification, antibiotics and hormones can be good things you know. We have been doing the same thing in a more primitive fashion for thousands of years with livestock. The fact that it is now more direct and scientific doesn't automatically make it more dangerous.

Vegetables and fruits have never been the cause of a deadly e. Coli. outbreak right? Oh wait. Local Oregon strawberries recently killed a kid, some people died from eating spinach earlier this year, lettuce was a problem before that and let's not forget the tainted tomatoes. Wildlife sh!ts in produce fields and food, regardless of location or type, is always a small risk.

It is likely that Eric either works for, or has considerable stock in, Monsanto.

Nope. I am a chemist though.

We are built to eat meat. Eyes in front of our head. We are not herbivores with eyes on the side of our head and flat teeth. We are designed to hunt and eat meat not graze grasses. Prey animals we are. Focused. Thinking anything else about yourself is mooo ..t

Eric a chemist? Figures, now I know why he slams anyone who would tell others to buy local. What's wrong Eric, pissed because the chemical companies don't have enough control over the local markets? There are many of us out here who grew up on farms, and all the meat, fruit and veggies we ate came from our farms. And in all the years of living on a farm, and being in an area that has many many farms (for 55 years), there hasn't been one reported sickness caused by E. coli.

You believe putting chemicals in food is healthy? And for E.coli? Why is it, that when you read about an E. coli out break anymore, it has to do with big food producers, and not the small local farmers? Could it be, that in the eyes of big producers, cramming hundreds, if not thousands of animals together in dirty conditions, and feeding them chemically treated food, and giving them chemicals through injections is their idea of being healthy and safe? Sorry, I never will buy what someone like you tries to sell the people. Also, food processing plants in most of these cases are a much greater risk for such out breaks.

Burning Brightly - Your logic is flawed. We don't have wings but we make planes to take us places. We don't have gills but we make oxygen tanks to allow us to breath underwater. We have gays and lesbians even though the parts where built to work with opposite sexes. So to say we are built to just eat meat is ridiculous. I find the best way is to have a combination of the two. White meat and vegetables with a small helping of fruit. As far as free ranging all our animals that are marked for slaughter, I do not see how that is feasible with the supply and demand. Cost would be astronomical to the customer on the end product.

Why don't we just irradiate ALL food and be done with it?

What Party is it that wants to cut Food Safety? The Corporations do such a great job they can police themselves! Not.

Poetic justice.

The majority of tainted beef was distributed in the southeast. The South votes Republican. The goal of the Republican Party is to reduce the size of the federal government and has already, negatively, affected the effectiveness of those federal agencies which protect the American citizenry.

Failures such as tainted beef getting through our already too thin line of inspectors is what citizens who vote Republican can expect in the future. You get what you vote for.

Yes Abdul Haq we voted and look what we got!

You actually believe this is because of the republican party?

Education, teach the illegal workers in the meat, poultry and vegatable processing plants ,to WASH YOUR HANDS, after you go to the bathroom.

@ Only in America - Buying local means nothing with respect to whether or not it is "chemically treated" or if someone smeared sh!t on it during processing. That is why i'm slamming the "buy local" mantra since it will do very little to guarantee safety. Just this last week, a small local farm in Oregon sold tainted strawberries.

I truly hope "buy local" vegans and evangelical Christians never join forces. That would be the peak of anti-intellectual behavior... It might be enough to bring on another dark age...

i support my local butcher. inspectors for each slaughter. meat is a lot better grade also.

but people like Eric 97 seem to think they jnow better, lol

The beef had "sell by" dates of July 31 to August12, it said.

already being the 15th... a bit late isnt it?

So your local butcher checks for bacterial contamination?

Hahaha - precisely.

Those small government people have no idea what they are asking for.

Brilliant, Disabled!

Of course, then we would not even have known about the recall, if it were done at all. It was the State Agricultural Department that ordered the recall. Damn regulators!

call it, "thiining the herd".

Yes, I bought a box today.

I for one would rather have the meat industry regulated. Can you imagine what it would be like if we didn't regulate it as much as we do? I have been to Mexico and see how they do it and I'm telling you, it can get worse, allot worse.

Read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"

or as it will be called when it is re-released "What if the Tea Party Ran the World"

Distance travelled has no bearing on the presence of fecal coliform bacteria. It comes from improper handling and getting sh!t all over the meat. This can happen one mile from home or one thousand.... Locality has NOTHING to do with it.

THANK YOU , Eric 97 ! I work in the meat business, & I'm glad to see someone actually listens & realizes where e.coli originates/comes from.

E.coli bacteria is indeed from improper handling at the slaughterhouse, big,small,..here or there.

You mean they don't have the 10 second drop rule in the meat packing factories?

Because some people are not smart enough to cook their food thoroughly and they will get sick.

If they're not smart enough to cook it right, they shouldn't be buying it!

What, people have to die before anything can be made safe for consumption? Bill, your "argument" is like saying that 10-year old, worn out brakes are perfectly safe.

Diane, do YOU always cook your meat until it is completely cooked on the inside with ZERO trace or hint of pink? I sure hope you do -- otherwise YOU are one of the people who are not smart enough to cook meat thoroughly, and shouldn't be buying it at all.

with ZERO trace or hint of pink?

I'm sure you know that color is no indication of being properly cooked. Temperature, temperature, temperature.

The USDA is the one to hold responsible for poor practices at slaughterhouses and poor tracking of meat from slaughterhouse to table.

LOL, I noticed that too. Useless information for sure.

Not totally useless! If you were sick to your stomach a few weeks ago, now you know why!

Americans are really slow to learn just how bad beef is for your health and the health of your family. Most beef people buy today in the grocery store is corn-fed, antibiotic injected, hormone treated and chemically soaked toxic junk. No surprise so many Americans look like a wiggling bowl of Jello.

Yes. Red meat has been in the human diet for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years and it is only logical that it is evil and dangerous.

The unhealthy human state couldn't possibly be the result of synthetic oils and sweeteners introduced into the diet in the last century. It must be one of the things present in our diet since the days we were indistinguishable from other primate branches.

All of the above reasonably apply, 9, 9.1 & 9.2 - even Eric kinda got a point there:
The unhealthy human state could...possibly be the result of synthetic oils and sweeteners introduced into the diet in the last century... one of the things present in our diet since the days we were indistinguishable from other primate branches.

And with all the recalls of VEGETABLES because of e-coli, etc -- being a vegetarian ain't gonna keep ya safe.

Cassandra, nice of you to mash comments down so they are completely out of their original context. Eric was more than clear that artificial sweetener, etc ARE NOT among the things Humans have been eating for thousands of years.

TheOverlord; The reason so many people (not just "Americans", but world-wide) "look like a wiggling bowl of Jello" is how much they eat. It ain't only what they eat.

Just so ya know, I have known plenty of wiggling-bowl-of-jello vegetarians.

No worries here.....Im Vegan.....and only eat ORGANIC...hot,healthy and lovin life :)

Organically grown food doesn't mean it won't have bacteria on it. Just so ya know.

veghead-3911468,

I could easily become a vegan myself!

The biggest problem I have, is the fact that I L-O-V-E steak, prime rib, chicken, pork, seafood, and venison.

Other than that, I could do it.

I wish Americans were smart enough to realize this very basic scientific fact... oh, that's right Americans don't believe in science. Oh well....

Dude, does foot and mouth disease ring a bell,,, look it up.

Lay off the broad brush, man - only the Bible thumpers and right-wing Republican politicians don't believe in science.

Ever drive through the Grapevine by the ranches, and see the cattle penned in their own feces? Yet a restaurant serving them (the cattle, that is) stands nearby.

Drive by a feed lot, the cattle live there to get fatten up. Standing, sleeping and eating each other @!$%# and Piss. Very healthy.

Craig, Argentina has its share of feedlots, too.

Cassandra, fll; The feedlots may be filthy -- but the meat is on the inside of the cow, not the outside. The cows are supposed to get washed before any knife/saw/whatever touches them.

Craig-2249226

"Thats what you get when you pen 10,000 cattle in an area the size of a football stadium. We don't have that problem in Argentina were cows roam free and eat grass like they are supposed too!"

#10 - Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:49 PM CDT

This is what you get when people post freely without knowing a damn thing they are talking about! Try these few links to get an idea of Argentina beef, and be assured of the above posted bull@!$%#.

"Argentina has the world’s highest mortality rate of E. coli (strain 0157:H7) related deaths.

E. Coli

According to data provided by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Uremic-Hemolytic Syndrome (UHS), a complication resulting from infection by E. coli 0157:H7, is endemic to Argentina. In 2006 there were 464 new cases, 64% of which were infants, a sum that triples the rest of the world’s cases in general. This particular strain of E. coli is mainly associated with beef, but has also been found in water, fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy products and other processed foods."

www.argentinaindependent.com/socialissues/environment/the-hidden-costs-of-feedlots-/

Argentina had the highest rates of HUS globally, 10.4 and 12.2 cases/100,000 children <5 years of age in 2001 and 2002, respectively. In Argentina, HUS is the leading cause of acute renal failure among children; in 1 study, after at least 10 years of follow-up, ≈20% of Argentine children had low creatinine clearances . HUS is responsible for 20% of kidney transplants among children and adolescents in Argentina .

Int Microbiol. 2004 Dec;7(4):269-76.

Virulence genes and intimin types of Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolated from cattle and beef products in Argentina.
E. coli Reference Laboratory (LREC), Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain.

Abstract

A total of 153 Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates from feces of cattle and beef products (hamburgers and ground beef) in Argentina were characterized in this study. PCR showed that 22 (14%) isolates carried stx1 genes, 113 (74%) possessed stx2 genes and 18 (12%) both stx1 and stx2. Intimin (eae), enterohemolysin (ehxA), and STEC autoagglutinating adhesin (saa) virulence genes were detected in 36 (24%), 70 (46%) and in 34 (22%) of the isolates, respectively. None of 34 saa-positive isolates carried the gene eae, and 31 were ehxA-positive. Fourteen (7 of serotype O26:H11 and 4 of serotype O5:H-) isolates had intimin b1, 16 isolates possessed intimin g1 (11 of serotype O145:H- and 5 of serotype O157:H7), 5 isolates had intimin type e1 (4 of serotypes O103:H- and O103:H2), and one isolate O111:H- showed intimin type q/g2.

The main point to note concerning e-coli transference in beef has nothing to do with the hygiene in feedlots, but the common practice of using feed grain as sustenance during the few days they reside in those feed lots. Grain lowers the natural acidity in the digestive tracts, raising the odds of e-coli infestation. When other natural feeds are used, acidity increases killing off e-coli strains residing in cattle.

As a note, the below statement is rather ignorant also, in that pigs themselves live in one of the most filthiest environs known to livestock, but produce pure uninfected meats with proper veterinary care. Infestations in pork are due to lack of proper medicinal control protocols, and not the hygiene of the animal itself.

Also note that proper education of the populace is often the most successful route to preventing disease, in that merely cooking meats past 165* F warrants proper cooking rules to prevent disease.

Argentina has one of the lowest standards of inspection and regulatory control on the planet, and a total lack of government nationwide education of the people for proper healthy cooking methods although their nation has the second largest intake of beef products in the world.

fll

Drive by a feed lot, the cattle live there to get fatten up. Standing, sleeping and eating each other @!$%# and Piss. Very healthy.

#10.5 - Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:51 PM CDT

Quacked - oh I'm sure they carefully wash and scrub those little cuties before they get that nail between the eyes. Thousands, literally, standing around in their waste, knee high - and you seriously think their carcasses don't go into the plant contaminated?? Oh brother.

Yeah, but have you ever been to a Brazilian steak house??

Mmmmm... broiled to perfection over a wood fire... served tableside, and sliced right off the sword!

NoTea4Me-2605757

Mmmmm... broiled to perfection over a wood fire...

I find Brazilian girls at the beach just as mouth-watering

This is one reason we need government, private industry will gladly sell you toxic soup as long as they make a buck. If not the government who will act as the enforcer of food laws?

Hey folks on the Vine........thinking of giving up meats.....You can always try going veggie..... but then didn't they have a problem with veggies also? hmmm All those genetically engineered food stuffs...LOL

You could always go liquid.... but didn't they have problem with that also.... the water even lights up for your pleasure.....

Come to think of it this will be the new way to cook safely...... wash your meats and veggies in freshly fracked water.... talk about parboiling at the tap..... LOL

All this is happening because corportions etc have become so greedy, and some of the american masses (repubobaggers) have become idiotic and downright gullible believing that industries can effectively self police, regulations and rules are no longer necessary and only serve to prevent job growth, and government is cramping our style.... LOL

PS...don't breathe.....at least too deeply.....air polluted ....... LOL

Oh.... what a country...... LOL

Reminds me of the poor saps who ate tainted peanut product, several died, many sickened - the owner let the product go to market because he was near bankruptcy. Hope he went to jail, but not sure how that turned out. Does not instill confidence in the system.

It is the Dept of Agriculture/FDA who is not doing their job.

Are there seriously checks done on Farmers, Agricultural producers at their farms, or where the meat or vegetables are raised?

How about the soil. It there a test done on the soil/animals for e-coli--poisonous matter? Who does this? Who do they report to?

It seems all of a sudden everything is poisonous that is ingested. Even pharmaceuticals.

Why?

Who looks over the FDA?---Who?; or is this not their responsibility or ours to eat it and get sick or die? Then action is taken?

Neuroses has set in most of the population of what is safe to eat and what is not, especially at restaurants. We cannot go into their kitchens, nor under dim lights can we see that ground meats are fully cooked.!

Hawaii at 11.4, are you referring to governmental agencies that are probably severly underfunded, nutered and probably populated with chronyism, nepotism, political favors etc in the upper ranks to probably include lobbiests etc as staff is cut amoung the scientist/inspector class of folks......? LOL

It is like these top level folks who work with some govt agency or other then leave to take a job in the private sector in the same industry that they used to oversee..... no conflict of interest or anything..... whats the biggie if you are now working as a lobbiests with easier access to lobbying your former collegues.....it just business etc...

Where else but in this country where drugs that have been used for years in other first world countries like the UK and Canada but probably because they are cheaper they would have to go through additional testing etc before they are able to be used/imported here if I am not mistaken..... LOL

Where else but this country where there are not enough inspectors to do the job inspecting all these farms, slaughter houses etc..... no doubt because they are govt employees/civil servants and thus now need to be downsized to shrink govt, save money and because these factories, slaughter houses, supermarkets, agribusinesses etc can self police even for products imported from outside the USA..... because we really really can for sure trust them to do the right thing and self police and keep records etc etc etc because to computerize/barcode the system and be able to follow the product from field to supermarket would cost so much money......until something happens then it is the fault of these agencies for not doing their jobs well. LOL

The crap that happens in this capitalist country, where the corporationpeople and making a profit are the only things that matters....and not the health or well being of the citizens....and where all these companies can lobby to get rid of pesky rules, regs and oversight that they think may hamper their profit making, or hold them accountable even at the expense of the masses..... so what if a few people get sick or die.... we still have plenty left for them to experiment on...... LOL

Come next year we will probably end up voting in the same moronic repubo conserv teabagger dinos again..... you think we would learn form the last time round.... but nooooo ....sigh

BZe1:

Great explanation. I totally feel the same way--- Government Experts in these agencies look the other way; Politics, also--and who are the victims: the American people.

They do not relate to most human beings--they are living on some kind of other planet.

Things have gotten much worse since the early 80's---that is for sure--

The American people are on their own. We have to be our own mindkeeper, and watchdog--

Thanks for the great explanation and facts; it is to the point where trust is no longer there for me re: safe foods, or the "fast "food medical" drugs that are being put out, with severe side effects; then the recalls of prescription drugs, because effects of heart and stroke possibilities..

I could go on and on about subjects like this.

Its a simple fact of timing at production levels...I personally know a USDA inspector, and they check for 99% of the identifiable problems that can be detected through visual inspection directly on the line...yet for areas that cover infections such as e-coli, they can never check each and every piece. So when micro-biological testing is done, by the time that an e-coli infection is found, several thousand pounds of product have already been processed, and sometimes due to backlogging, even distributed. If they held the product back until each and every sample went through lab testing and completed, the product would begin to age and the possibility of illness due to spoiling would merely be much more of a problem than e-coli. Thus the reason for the recalls. Actually, it is the same process for any other infectious strain, that slips by actual testing on site where cattle are raised and make it to the processing plant. Soooooo the chronological chain of events that make up inspection of the product works, it just doesn't work as well as we would wish it too. But then, what does?

dj:

There seems to be an enormous amount of reports re: tainted beef now, and runaway e-coli--It is always "after the fact", when people die from ingestion of much of this food--it should never happen---what has changed within our Government?

How do you explain this--

I love you die-hard Americans that are in constant denial about the "meat" you so dearly MUST have (or become a Pinko Commie no doubt). If you really thing meat-eating is so healthy then why are so many top professional athletes going vegetarian or vegan? Most top MMA fighters and many Olympians are now going vegan... oh, that's right it's because it's much more healthy for you!!!! Now it makes sense.

Um, no one wants to pay the taxes necessary to increase the number of inspectors - or at least, not enough who vote. Champagne tastes on a beer budget, typical of our populace.

We pay the taxes for this, but some politician spends it where he or she sees fit.

Go ahead and shake your head, but it ain't going to help things at all. You want more regulation of the beef industry, and less of the "sin tax" on sugar..... You are against "Big Government" telling you what to do, think, eat, drink, etc -- but you want Government to keep you safe. Wow. Talk about confusing.

how about all of us start taking responsibility for our own food ,you want beef grow it,you want veggies grow it,you want unpasteurized dairy fine. stop relying on other people to keep your food safe .smaller govt. smaller community smaller impact

Can people have chickens in an apartment? Wonder what the landlord charges for a deposit on a chicken, instead of , say, a dog. Maybe a milk goat would be better...the landlord could save on landscaping/mowing costs.

Nativeson,# 12.4.... where is the tea? Seems you have been bagged already and want the rest of us to be steeped like you huh..... hmmm

Are you having a 'take the country (us) back' moment?...

Oh to be back in the land of cotton....with those formerly free Africans picking and a singing.....'take me home to glory, sweet Jesus, take me home to glory' 'I am tired and weak and worn'......in the hot midday sun.....

Anyhooo, per Teabagger Bachmann, back in those simpler times......those formerly free Africans' children had it better back then, unlike the free Americans of African decent now, because they had 2 parents in the field, shack, cabin...er...home? hmmmm

Or perhaps you are thinking of even earlier times ..... when the buffalo roamed, where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the sky is not cloudy all day.... home home on the range......

I know there is farming of bees on city roofs these days but... chickens, cows, steers, pigs etc etc?

Help me Father help me..... I am sick and tired and wornout.... when will the lunacy stop.... and we can get busy rebuilding our country in this the 21st century......?

At least NC put down that horrific animal testing lab last year - will give you guys credit for that bit of regulatory work. And a thank you.
Food processing is messy work, and few want to see what happens before an animal become a nice little package in the grocery store. Me included. My mom still remembers the neighbor lady in backwater Ohio, swingin' that chicken by the neck - crack - dinnertime. After scalding off the feathers and cleaning up the carcass. Sixty Minutes, or some show like that showed a chicken plant, and talked about - I'll never forget - the "fecal soup" as the dead chickens were de-feathered in hot water. It was awhile before I wanted to eat chicken.

So animals have to be butchered before they can be eaten -- big friggin' hairy deal. Plants "just happen" to grow in dirt. Last time I checked, dirt was still the biggest vector for fungus and bacteria.

As for "animal testing labs", ya want them to test things on people -- especially without knowing what the hell will happen? I know -- they can just round up a bunch of homeless veterans.................

How about e.coli's cousin -- salmonella?

Some drunk hung over white guy could have caused it too. You may never know what caused the problem for sure.

Granted hiring illegals is wrong, but I don't know for sure it has anything to do with this case.

This happened back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, but the only difference is it wasn't reported like today.

Get the illegals out of our packing houses.

Sorry, but corporations have been hiring "illegals" since before the 1950s. Your "argument" falls flat on its lack of facts.

fll, if there are no "illegals" working in the meat-packing places, then who is gonna process your steaks?

Quacked One: there are plenty of meat cutters in the US who would love to have that job and do it properly and wash their hands as required and understand what is spoken to them in ENGLISH. The problem is the corporations are not fined enough when this happens. If any dies from the infected meat before it is reported, the heads of the processing plants should be held criminally and civilly liable.

Get the illegals out of our packing houses.

That's right, they're dirty and they smell. Even the cattle are cleaner then they are.

I've been told they don't even use toilet paper and wipe their asses with their hands. Yuck!

But Americans won't work for $5 per hour.

Nor will they want to pay $100 for a steak at the grocery store...

Instead of externalizing everything, why not also take up some of the blame...

HAHA!!! What a bunch of morons trying to blame this on "illegals". I can't even begin to figure out how your tiny brains came up with that one. You think that because someone is in the states illegally they don't have proper hygiene? I have see white guys walking out of a bathroom without washing their hands and go back to their meal. Hell a white guy even took a piss on a 12 year girl on a plane.

The problem is with the packing house owners. You know the white guys who cut corners to save money. They tell the workers to bypass rules and guidelines.

But you just go on blaming someone else to get to sleep at night.

Just please tell me that you idiots don't breed. That would keep me from getting a good night's sleep.

99% of the news articles that gets posted, someone has to blame the illegals for the problems. yet just how people are out of work just because they don't want to start out on the bottom at a company, starting at minimum wage or do a job they feel is beneath them? a neighbors son stays home from work because it is too hot, cold, wet or the job is too laborious for him to complete, or just doesn't feel like working today. yet both his parents work, and when their seasonal work slows down here, they both go to another state, separately to work contracts they are committed too every year, to pay their mortgage. another friend's son needs a job, but when told that McDonalds is hiring, he said he can get a better job than that, but in the 4 years we have known the now 23 year old, he has remained jobless. a guy my husband worked with refused to carry buckets of sand up a hill at the hourly wage of $12.50 an hour and had to be sent home. after posting a help wanted ad the employer had to hire illegals because the contract was another 3 weeks over due. these are just 3 people we happen to know off the bat, so how many more American citizens refuse to do some "grunt" work while climbing the ladder to reach a better job history or get a better position, or simply because that is the only task left to do so the work can go on to the next step for completion.

let's face it, to many Americans don't want to do "grunt" work or want a managers' position or better when hired.

Those of you who are trying to blame tainted meat on the lack of proper hygiene of illegals, if you are right, there would be many more e-coli outbreaks. But there aren't, so how can you be right about this?

Eating them from your own garden is still a potential risk unless you can guarantee that deer, cats, racoons and rabbits haven't been crapping on your food.

Washing thoroughly and properly minimizes risk, but you aren't any safer eating out of your own garden honestly. At least not from coliform.

Eric, the vegetables I grow are safer than anything I can get at the store -- because I KNOW what kind of fertilizer, etc is used on MY vegetables. It don't matter if a rabbit, deer, squirrel, cat, raccoon or elephant craps in my garden.

It DOES matter with respect to e. Coli.....

The company that came up with using meat scraps that used to go to making dog food, cleaning it with ammonia and then using it to fill 20% of ground beef and the government approved that they don't even have to put this on the label when it's sold to us did ALL THEIR OWN TESTING!!! And the FDA approved it! What's good for the corporations is good for us!!!

Lots of taxpayers would like to think we get something for our money as regards food safety. America, with a fairly stable political system and considerable resources for its citizens, unlike Africa, etc., is supposed to raise the bar, tho' that isn't always the reality.
I followed up on that Peanut Corp fiasco, where they have an email that it was known that the product was tainted with salmonella, and "prayed" all would be ok....9 died, hundreds sickened. "We" shouldn't have to live at risk like that - and the owner, who did go bankrupt from this - trying to not lose money throwing a batch out - has NOT been charged with the deaths.
Ignoring this sort of stuff is at our own peril - we will be "like" a 3rd world nation if all that is done is wringing of hands and allowing businesses to do this to the citizens without penalty.

Joyh, thank you for putting this in perspective.

As I previously stated...

Don't hate... IRRADIATE!

The usage of ammonium hydroxide as an antibacterial agent isn't exactly a bad thing. It is an excellent base for pH adjustment and a much cleaner option than something like sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate which both have an unavoidable quantity of heavy metals. If done properly, you wouldn't know it is in there and it will have absolutely no effect on your health in the concentrations used.

We constantly produce ammonia from protein metabolism and the body handles it quite readily. Basically, we end up pissing it out as urea.

Ya, eat your dog food.

And why has this problem gone up something like 40% if this is such a good thing since they've started using meat that would have been used for dog food in our hamburger?

So take that America!

That'll teach us to not piss on our meat before grilling it!

Do you have any idea what you are talking about?

Word.

You are the insulting, demeaning partisan hack. Probably a troll too.

Yes. Vectors used for genetic modification are often from eschericia coli (NOT O157!), bacillus anthracis or viruses but have absolutely nothing in common with the actual organism. Vectors are basically little circles of DNA used for introduction and/or overexpression of genes. They may be derived from E. Coli. Et al., but are definitely not dangerous in that sense.

You obviously don't understand recombinant DNA techniques and are parroting some ill informed pamphlet or blog.

Just so you know, there are thousands of e. Coli. Strains out there and only a couple are pathogenic. It is the most widely used class of bacteria in scientific research.

Remember, This is not a personal attack on you. So please do not assume anything about me as I do not with you. I am well aware of 'Recombinant DNA' What I am talking about, is the 'Horizontal Gene transfer'. That is the problem.

Tessa - what do you feed your family? Please advise, any suggestions would be appreciated.

What do you mean by "sometimes E-coli and Anthrax like componants as an active ingredient" as this makes no scientific sense as written?

Cassandra: My reply to you is on page 3. Best.

BTW3110: To clarify: As an active ingredient, the biotech industry splices different strains of bacteria and viruses (among other viruses/bacteria, the DNA of insects, humans, and animals) as to 'activate' these GMO (Genetically Modified ORGANISM) seed/crops that we eat and used in animal feed. **Commonly, E-Coli and/or/ Bacillus anthracis bacteria are used.

When a cow eats this GMO BT corn & soy feed, it changes the strain of E-coli in the gut, like a mixing vessel, creating, later, in the fecal matter, mutated strains of E-coli, and after, may contaminate when, a. the cow is slaughtered--the fecal matter gets mixed into the meat, b. Maneur gets sold as fertilizer to other farms, or c. As run-off to nearby farms during a flood or storm.

Instead of fixing the problem caused by the Biotech industry and industrial farming (since only a handful of BIG AG creates our entire food supply) they dip the meat in Ammonium Nitrate to 'hopefully' "kill" the E-coli it is creating, ***instead of stopping the problem by creating more, smaller, local, cleaner farms, with better kept animals that are ethically treated and allowed to roam and eat grass.

Alone, cows are not meant to eat corn. With 100% Organic, Grass fed cows, you could eat the fecal matter without getting sick. Research, Recombinant DNA, Horizontal Gene Transfer. Read "Don Huber's Warning" where the creation of a harmful new species of virus/bacteria has been discovered and growing in numbers. This is in combination with the GMO crops, the BT toxin in said crops, coupled with the glyphosate weed killer application.

Deregulation of these GM crops are detrimental. Sugar is another crop, as well, Wheat trials are happening in W. Austrailia. as-well-as a host of crazy trials are going on all over the world. (Amflora (antibiotic potatoe) including GMO salmon which may wipe out our entire Salmon stock if allowed to continue, or they escape.

Then there is the fact that seeds now terminate. They are only good for one season. The farmers pay a royalty to use these seeds each year or get sued if in fact an organic farm gets pollinated by a GMO seed from a nearby crop, What if all crops took on this 'terminator' trait? And, our pollinators are becoming extinct from the pesticides from glyphosate and BT toxin in GM crops....Human health issues, animal health issues, I could go on and on and on.

And last, our Gov't just deregulated GM alfalfa--that may in fact, taint our entire dairy and conventional and organic alfalfa supply. The problem is that Monsanto has a revolving door in our Gov't. And pays our elected officials to approve said crops.

There are just too many issues here, and they are often related to the GMO-E-coli induced feed that we give our livestock and eat ourself at 3 meals a day.

Thanks.