FECES FED BEEF

[kctomato]

Jun 19, 2008 0:15:50 GMT -5 canadamike said:

One of my clients is a dairy farmer who sells is calves to a place in Quebec where they fatten them for the USA. He visited the operation ; 20,000 animals are there at any time. They can't sell the meat to Canada, because they squeeze out the liquids from the feces, put the solids in a silo and feed them back to the animals, at the demand of the American buyer, who wants the lowest cost, and it is the way it is achieved in your country... another proof of the grip of the corporations on the government...and common sense

I think I''ll stay up north

apparently some Canadians are quite full of it already

whereas some Americans can never get enough crap

[jaliranchr]

"Bless the country who protects the family farm."

Yes, and that's what happened in 2003 when an animal from Alberta showed up in Washington state with BSE and the border was closed to Canadian beef. Then there were other cases of BSE in 2006 even with those perfect laws in place. It doesn't matter what country, there will always be the ones that try to cheat the system. And that isolated case in 2003 is still causing problems for our cattle industry with the Asian markets.

[canadamike]

Of course, but this problem will always exist, family farms or not. And nothing proves someone was cheating the system, it only proves tracability is a great thing. when the problem was found, it could be traced back, something all of us should be happy.

These gigantic problems would not exist at such a scale if we still had smaller slaughterhouses. Now, something happens, and it is a whole segment of an industry that suffers. The place where the disease shows up has nothing to do with any form of ''system''. It is nature going its course.

There have been many other occurences of the disease in the States since the one you are talking about, I guess it could be Googled, but of course it was not international, so there was no blame to throw around, and the same industry that was so fast to yell at canadians are also very fast at pushing the ''silence'' button. And you seem to trust them, while I trust tracability and the disclosure of such problems, something really not in the habit of your country.

This is just lobbies playing politics.

And there will be an occurence of disease coming from your country and we will be victims, in fact there is one right now, with the Florida tomatoes, and what can we do? That's life, that's nature.

Tracability makes it possible to identify the floridian ( and mexican) maters, so what is a bad news hides a good one: we can solve the problem.

Nobody will stop nature from being nature and diseases or bacterial contamination to show up.

And why did you ''single out'' the family farm phrase for that purpose. It is such a different debate, I don't get it. Is it because anybody being proud of his country who is not an american is a threat, an idiot, one that did not get that the only good stuff HAS to come from the USA?

Is it hard to accept that sometimes, others are better at some things than America ( like in the tracability of beef, for example, where Canada is a whole galaxy ahead of the States , and like in the general quality of dairy products and meat)

Better relax, it happens all the time, as it happens to Canada, to England, to France, to Norway and so on... there is always someone doing something better somewhere else.

And in the food industry, quality wise, despite wonderful local companies and great small scale food producers, and some bigger companies really looking for quality, the States are at the very very very very bottom of all the industrialised world.

Wether you like it or not, when food comes from your country, it has the '' It must be junk'' stigma glued to it, even when absolutely excellent , and it is true all over the western world. And it is often WELL DESERVED. Your obesity level is only one of the proofs. Taste is another one, sadly. And I know, I visit your country very often and I eat there a lot. Can you say the same thing about Canada, France, etc...? And I don't mean the McDonald's and Burger Kings...

The people here at HG are fighting that industrialised vision of nourishment. I hope you agree on this. Don't get me wrong, it exists in Canada too, we imported it from the USA to an horrible extent. But it is only part of the story.

[sammyqc]

The US has had many cases of BSE. Unfortunately, there is no system to track the animals, and you seem to suscribe to a shoot, shovel and shut up type of mentality when it come to sick cows. Instead of informing the public of a possible problem, as most other countries do.
It's not the fault of Canadian beef, why your country still has a problem with other markets, it's the fault of your politicians, who are unwilling to admit when there might have been a problem, leading others to distrust your beef.

[jaliranchr]

Whatever

[canadamike]

Well said. The most important export of this bunch of crappy politicians is the blaming of others. And some people still believe in them. Go figure...

[sammyqc]

Jun 22, 2008 22:46:34 GMT -5 jaliranchr said:

Whatever

the clever answer. solves everything. well done.

[jaliranchr]

I don't post much over here for just this reason. Some of you delight in battling. I gave that up because it just isn't fun for me anymore. I learned this afternoon that one of my dearest friends in the world died at the ripe age of 48 of lung cancer. Now, I don't think this little exercise in faux outrage really matters much. But battle on and enjoy yourselves, it isn't worth it to me.

[sammyqc]

Very sorry to hear about your friend. That is horribly young to die of such a terrible disease.

[canadamike]

Very sorry to learn about your friend. All my condolances.

You are right, these things takes a whole different meaning when taken into that perspective .

But here is surely not the place where there is a lot of argument and fighting. You must confuse us with another forum. In fact, your comment provided HG with the only such heated discussion in the last 5 or 6 months or so ( that I can remember), since the Kent Whealy departure at SSE. You can go back to all the threads to get the proof of it. And we are talking about 2 answers to one comment. Not much of a big fight.

And it is not ''faux outrage'' as you say, but an answer offered freely to a freely expressed comment that was outrageous to us.

Of course it means nothing in the vue of your friends death. But we did not know that...

Sorry for your loss and I'll have a prayer for your friend's family and loved ones.

[flowerpower]

Jali, That is just terrible. I am so sorry.

I live in dairy country and there are no huge herds, maybe 200 head at the most. And more farms close down every yr. The milk prices are insane. The farmer gets 1.25/gallon. They charge close to $5/gal in the store. Its coming from right down the road. Most farmers I know have other jobs too.

[PapaVic]

I think it's more the attitude that some of us Americans get from most Canadians that their country and their countrymen are somehow superior to our country and our countrymen.

We often get that feeling like down at Southern resort areas when the snowbirds show up with their superior attitudes. It's been going on for many many years. Now that the Canadian dollar is worth as much or more than the American dollar, I sure hope those tight-assed Canucks have learned how to leave tips!

pv

[canadamike]

Papavic, you might be right here. In the case of theamericanns, it is their government, trying to impose its view all over that makes the country quite upopular.

The folks I have met all my life when I got down there were like canadians to me, I could hardly see the difference, and they were warm and welcoming. And there is also sooo many great organisations, and a tremendous amount of extraordinary small companies providing top notch and unique products .

As for the snowbirds, I think it as to do with education. A lot of them are ''faux riches'' that spend all they income there, mostly french quebecois. They yell against USA when there and against Canada when back here. They piss EVERYBODY off.

To such an extent that many very successful movies have been made here ridiculizing them. There is also a set of phrases and expressions dedicated specifically to them.

We share the aggravation Bill! If you can understand some french, or if I can put my hands on a translated copy, I will send you one, '' La Florida''. It is hilarious. Not a very flattering description of french canadian habits!!!

Michel

[lavandulagirl]

You know, I was going to reply to the diatribe: "sucky cuisine in the US" this and "stupid Americans in the US don't know anything" that, Michel, but I decided it would be lost on you. You go ahead and sit up there eating your poutine and your fatback, and um, good for you. I'll stay here with my myriad of organic choices, my husband who works in the demon dairy industry, and forget once again that Canada exists...

[landarc]

Hey Lavs,
Andre is in the dairy industry? You folks into cheese? You have to look up Fiscalini Farms and Bravo Farms, wont be too far from your future someday neck of the woods.

I have had many Canadians tell me that American food is bad, same with many other folks from other countries, then you take em to get the food we keep for ourselves, and they are shocked.

For the record, I prefer to buy my beef from a company that has it's own brood herd, tracks it own animals and only sells what it can prove it grew. And the most expensive and highly valued pork in Japan and Europe does not come from Japan or France, it is from Iowa. By the by, that Japanese embargo on beef is only partly due to BSE and American farming practices, the bigger reason, I came to find out from relatives in Japan, has to do with the fact that American Wagyu was rapidly out pacing the Japanese product in both availability and price. And the Japanese government found a way to protect their market without breaking trade treaties.

In my opinion, anywhere you find producers that truly care about the product they are handling, you will not find any feces being shoveled at anyone or any critter. Their product will stand on its own ( and we all want our cattle standing on their own before they are harvested). But, to make broad generalizations about any group of people at a national level is ridiculous, there are folks in this country who care only about price, others only about the food, lots of folks in between.