What Your Butcher Won’t Tell You

-You Are What The Animals Eat
by Royce Bailey M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.C.

Another cow with mad cow disease, in Canada, was found this week. What does this mean for the church and the general public?

Americans Will Eat Anything

You and I will agree that we can’t believe what people will eat on TV’s Fear Factor. But even without the “unclean” foods (Lev 11) being eaten, Americans are consuming more “clean” meat than ever. In 2004 we ate over 221 pounds of meat and poultry per person, up from 199 pounds in 1990. Americans have come to expect low prices on their meat products and in order for the industry to turn a profit, most livestock are kept and slaughtered on factory farms, where animals are feed corn and soybean based feeds (10-30% of which is often radically different from what the animal would consume naturally). For example, feathers, poultry manure and waste bedding are all acceptable in cattle feed, according to the Food and Drug Administration; not to mention the added sanctioned “get big quick” hormones that are added to the feeds and passed on to the consuming public. Poultry may also be fed meat and bone meal ground down to an inexpensive, protein rich powder that encourages fast growth.

Regulations Make Us Feel Safer, But Are We?

This practice of feeding animals can be dangerous to humans. According to Consumers Union, between August 1997 and March 2004, 52 companies recalled products for violating federal rules protecting feed from infectious “prions,” the proteins believed to cause mad cow disease. Despite the recalls, the FDA has failed to institute stricter rules.

The Pathogens Are Killing Us

For the year 2005, there were 24 recalls of meat due to dangerous levels of pathogens, including listeria, E coli, and spinal column remains of a cow over 30 months old. We hear about E coli killing or permanently damaging people while eating at salad bars, but the E coli came from the meat being prepared on the same surface as the salad.

But Hamburger Is OK?

Ground beef is often extracted by a process called “Advance Meat Recovery (AMR),” where carcasses are fed into a machine that strips soft tissue from the bone. Processed meats, such as pizza toppings and sausage are made this way. Consumer advocates warn that AMR increases the risk of spinal tissue (which can carry mad cow disease) could be included among the processed meats. The American Meat Institute counters that the cow spinal cord is removed from all carcasses before being stripped. Meanwhile, the first case of mad-cow disease in domestic-raised beef was discovered in Texas, June 2005.

Meat Is A Bacteria Magnet

Ground beef is the worst bacteria magnet. During the grinding process and packaging, it’s exposed to air that is rife with harmful bugs including listeria, staphylococcus and salmonella. It is so difficult to prevent infection that the USDA okays ground beef with 7.5% incidence of salmonella bacteria vs 1% for raw cuts of meat.

Where’d My Meat Come From?

After Canada confirmed cases of mad cow disease in 2003, consumers wanted to know the country of origin of their meat products.  Despite having a USDA stamp on the meat it still could have come from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Brazil or Mexico.    These countries often do not meet the core requirements of the US law.  The USDA’s zero tolerance policy for contaminants including feces and urine was repeatedly violated by Australia, Canada and Mexico, the consumer watch-dog group Public Citizen warned in 2003.  There is no country of origin label on meat.

Unclean Stores

According to the New York Department of Agriculture, 25.5% of the state’s department supermarkets were cited in 2004 for a critical deficiency involving insect, rodent, bird or vermin activity that had contaminated the meats. 7.5 % were cited for unsanitary equipment services. Another 1 % of the stores were cited for employees not washing their hands. We may need to start have bathroom police here at church for not washing your hands and proceeding out to shake hands!

But, What About The Protein?

Alright, I hear some of you say, but what about the protein that our bodies need? Studies have for years suggested that meat eaters had higher blood pressure than vegetarians. A recent study (January 9, 2006) found that hypertension may partially be due to the type of protein we eat. Eating vegetable sources for your protein lowered your blood pressure. This was found to be true in 17 diverse populations and four countries. Eating a meat based diet or evaluating a high protein type diet did not over a long period change one’s blood pressure, despite what the weight loss books say. In vegetable based protein diets, it is the different amino acids in the vegetable vs. meat proteins and increases in potassium and magnesium in a vegetable based diet, that cause the lowering of the blood pressure.

Meat Makes Us Spiritual Weaklings

“Flesh was never the best food; but its use is now doubly objectionable, since disease in animals is so rapidly increasing.” 1905, Counsels On Diet And Foods: 384

“Subsisting on the flesh of dead animals is a gross way of living...” 1884, Counsels On Diet And Foods: 409

“The Lord would bring His people into a position where they will not touch or taste the flesh of dead animals. Then let not these things be prescribed by any physicians who have a knowledge of the truth for this time.” 1898, Counsels On Diet And Foods: 409.

“The unhealthful food placed in the stomach strengthens the appetites that war against the soul, developing the lower propensities. A diet of flesh meat tends to develop animalism. A development of animalism lessens spirituality, rendering the mind incapable of understanding truth.” 1902, Counsels On Diet And Foods:382

So how can you avoid contaminated meat?

References:

Black, J, “10 Things Your Butcher Won’t Tell You,” Smart Money, November 2005:110-112.

Elliot, P. “Association Between Protein Intake And Blood Pressure,” Arch Intern Med, 166; Jan. 9, 2006;79-87.

White, E., “Counsels On Diet And Food,” 1938.