So, I know that on Super Tuesday Two, today's blog content is not my usual fair. The purpose of this blog was never intended to be about political commentary though, but instead about all the things that make me, as an American angry! Today's topic certainly makes me, well angry isn't even the word.
Most of you heard about the beef recall a week or so ago. It was the largest beef recall in history. Most of the beef that may have been tainted - headed for school cafeteria's around the country and into our children. Here's the problem, the issue is what is called "downer" cattle. You may not be familiar with that term. I wasn't until this news story broke. "Downer" cattle is a phrase used to refer to sick and dying cattle that usually can not stand on their own. They are hung in cargo trucks from their necks and transported to slaughter houses around the country. Usually when they arrive, they are covered in their own feces, thereby increases the risks of E.Coli, mad cow disease, and untold amounts of other serious infectious diseases.
The Humane Society released an undercover video, which is just too shocking to show here, but if you are interested in viewing the evil that some men are capable of, you can find it on youtube by searching for "downed" cattle. In this video, workers at the slaughter house were shown using cattle prods on animals that couldn't walk, pulling or dragging the animals with fork lifts and spraying their noses and faces with high pressure water hoses. To what purpose would a human being do this, I ask you?
The only answer that I could come up with is that those individuals who did this are not human, but MONSTERS. Their hearts are so full of greed, corruption and hate, that they have no pity or compassion for a totally helpless animal. I for one will NEVER be party to this again. For health and for moral purposes, I will never eat ground meat, hot dogs, or other byproducts like this ever again.
Do you want your children to be party to cruelty? Do you want your children eating meat from animals that are so unhealthy that they can't stand? Don't want to take my word for it? Investigate it for yourself.
There is a way to be humane - what these animals had to experience wasn't it.
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2 comments:
Off subject...but I found you through the political listing on the Mom blogs and I thought I'd come by and say, "Yes we can!"
For the simple reasons of how meat is handled when it is ground at the market, I prefer to grind my own. A food processor does a pretty good job if you're careful not to over-process.
Typically, I do it like this:
1/2 lb. chuck steak
1/2 lb. sirloin steak
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Cut each into 1 inch cubes, and working in batches, pulse the meat 10 times in the food processor. Don't go beyond 10 pulses, or you will end up with Beef Mousse, and that is pretty lousy to eat. When you're done, mix in the kosher salt, not table salt.
That's pretty much it. By buying whole steaks and grinding them yourself, you save a lot of worry regarding contamination by e-coli agents. The salt will season the meat just right...no need to add wierd stuff like soup mixes and what-not...and, it will contribute to keeping bacteria in check. It sounds time consuming, but really it goes pretty fast and you would be delighted by how vastly different fresh ground tastes over the pulverized product you see at the supermarket. The texture is a bit less homogeneous and has a rather "rough hewn" feel in the mouth, but perhaps that is what makes it so good.
I know that a good deal of the point you were trying to make was with regards to ethical treatment of animals. I fear that my process does not impact that aspect very much at all. But, if you still wish to indulge, this is a far better way to go.
Even my ex-wife rather enjoyed how burgers turned out using this method, and now she's a convert. After all these years, it's nice to hear her say "You were right" for once :)
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