Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Angry Bovine
A single case of Mad Cow disease has shown up in Washington State.
Discovery of the brain-wasting disease in Washington state threatened the $27 billion U.S. cattle industry, pressured share prices of fast-food companies and raised consumer concerns about food safety—especially as an official said meat from the cow may have been eaten as hamburgers.
Ok, I’m not going to really go into details about Mad Cow disease or anything like that because we have learned a lot from watching Britain and Canada go through it.
However, here is where I take issue:
The dairy cow diagnosed with the disease was a “downer” animal, meaning it was too sick to walk. The U.S. Senate last month approved language that would ban downer cattle, pigs and goats from being used in the human food supply, but the measure was dropped from a final bill because of House opposition.
The cow is TOO SICK TO STAND UP but they will still sell it to us FOR CONSUMPTION? Hell no! Look, I really don’t give a shit if an animal is “still edible” even though it is sick. If I EVER found out I was eating an animal that had been TOO SICK TO WALK AROUND, I’d be pissed and I’m sure hundreds of thousands of other people out there don’t give one flying rat’s ass if the cow can still be served for dinner. That is foul. I can’t believe we actually need a bill that states, “If the animal is too sick to walk around, it should not be sold to humans as food.” I cannot believe I’m reading this. Don’t even bother telling me how it’s okay....IT’S THE SIMPLE IDEA AND PRINCIPLE that makes me feel nauseous.
About two years ago I had purchased a roast from a store I shall not name. I RARELY ever cook anything because I’m lazy and impatient so I was really looking forward to this treat.
I made the roast, everything came out great and I was happily cutting off slices and bringing them to work for lunch.
One day, I stabbed the roast with a fork as I was getting ready to cut off another slice when the utensil clanked something hard.
“Eh? What was that? Bone?”
I stabbed it again.
>Clank!<
“What the hell is that?”
I cut into the meat and found a 2” silver bullet embedded within and the meat surrounding said bullet was green.
Was the rest of the roast okay to eat? I’m sure it was but it was the very idea AND the green tint to the meat that caused me to contact the store for a refund.
They came by, got the evidence, contacted the meat supplier and I was indeed, issued a refund.
Now that was just some unfortunate cow, standing out in the field, minding her own business, eating grass when some redneck fuck thought it might be funny to slam a bullet in her ass. Or whatever the scenario happened to be.
That is a FAR cry from trying to sell me a cow who is TOO SICK to walk around.
If I won’t eat a cow with a bullet in its ass, (and it took me over a year before I ate roast again...I stuck with ground beef during that time), what makes anyone think I’m going to want to eat a sick one?
