American Beef Safe to Eat?

I have been reading news reports about how much Korean people are upset at the Korean government for signing an agreement to import beef from the United States because of the concerns about MadCow. There have been candle light protests in Seoul with more than 10000 people. People are even signing petitions to impeach their new president Lee who has been in office for 2 months.

This led me to think, the beef that I buy at the market to feed me, my hubby, and my two beautiful kids (an old english sheepdog and the most beautiful original breed we call Maupa) is it safe? One might say don’t eat beef, which is pretty easy for me to accomplish, but I don’t think my BBQ loving husband and kids would appreciate the move. I also have read that organic, grass fed beef is safe, but on my salary I can’t afford to shop exclusively at Whole Foods Market.

According to an article called USDA Misleading American Public about Beef Safety on Organic consumer’s Association site, even if the most dangerous parts are removed, because of the way we slaughter cows there is no guarantee that the dangerous parts of the cow won’t get in contact with the more “safe” parts. Also, I am very concerned about the rate of testing USDA conducts on downed cows – only 2% in comparison to 100% of testing in Europe and Japan.

Reuters in one of the article reported,

“The major U.S. safeguards against mad cow disease are the feed ban, a prohibition against slaughtering most “downer” cattle — animals too sick to walk on their own — for human food, and a requirement for meatpackers to remove from carcasses the brains, spinal cords and other parts most likely to contain the malformed proteins blamed for the disease.”

I am not sure where this reporter has been in the past few months because we all know that after seeing the HSUS video, downer cows were systematically abused and tortured then slaughtered and placed into the food chain, which caused a massive recall.

I guess I won’t be eating or feeding my family beef anymore, until i get a big fat raise so I can go shop at Whole Foods.

Santa Monica (Wednesday) Farmer’s Market

I heard a lot of great things about this farmer’s market from people and various publications. I read that local chefs go there to shop for fresh local ingredients. Recently I heard that people who have been going to this market for years were unhappy, because big restaurants from the east coast have agents who buy up all the great hard to find ingredients directly from the participating farmers. The locals don’t even get a chance at all the unique and wonderful produce and are upset.

I have been living in the Santa Monica area since 1999, one would guess that I might have been to this market at least once, but I haven’t. Not till today. It’s not because I never had a free Wednesday morning, but it’s more of not remembering that there is farmer’s market on wednesdays, so close to my house. (I thought farmer’s markets only opens on Sundays). This morning, I was ready to participate in the Santa Monica tradition.

In the past, I have been to Beverly Hills farmer’s market, where I tried my first Kettle Corn and fell in love with it, and indulged in crepes and other awsome breakfast items. I drove down to 2nd and Arizona on an empty stomach with high anticipation of beautiful breakfast that would soon fill my belly. When I got there I saw lots of people and numerous parasols that filled the street and was very excited to be part of it. My excitement soon turned into disappointment, when I found out that there were no breakfast food being served there. 90% of all stands there were fresh produce. I had to fill my stomach from one stand where they sold premade food – Rockenwager bakery’s Blueberry Scone. It was yummy, but after such high expectation I was still hungry.

After I partially filled my stomach with the scone, I looked around the market looking for produce that would inspire me to cook. I bought Dill, Cilantro, Arugula, Cage Free Eggs, Chinese Broccoli, Tomato, and the sweetest Strawberries. All of the produce were so fresh and looked very tasty.

If I can remember to go, I would definitely go back and buy my veggies and fruit at this market. But next time, I am having my breakfast before heading over there.