The PBS television network will feature a special called "Modern Meat" on its Frontline program tonight. It will run here at 9:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, USA. Check www.mytvtaxi.com for your listing.

Will PBS assault beef with the many myths, distortions and lies commonly heard on TV? This will be interesting.

You can read the truth about meat at the following sites:

Myths, Distortions and Lies About Beef.

Weston A. Price Foundation - Myths and Truths About Beef.

Enjoy,

Kent

hi Kent,

I've moved your post to the Research & Media forum, where other interested members may find it. Thankyou for posting this, folks may wish to check their local PBS listings (it's on at 10:00 p.m. Eastern).

It appears that the focus of the program is not anti-meat, but rather on the SAFETY aspects of meat handling and production. It's a review of the meat INDUSTRY, not beef or meat itself. According to the PBS press release about the program:The press release can be read in its entirety here

Doreen

Well I watched part of the program last evening. They didn't give negatives to eating meat in itself, but rather, how our meat is produced. If the story was factual, it was disturbing how cows are raised and slaughtered. The problem isn't meat consumption, but rather mordern farming and harvesting.

I will wait to see expert opinions on this however. PBS and "Frontline" tend to give a bias reports that lean towards the left wing ideology on issues. I remember the report on hunting, back 20 years ago. It was loaded with misinformation and outright lies.

The Frontline program was more neutral toward eating meat than I had expected. Still, they miss the point in many areas:

1. Bioterrorism. They mentioned this word only once and did not discuss the possibility that bioterrorism should be a major suspect in the outbreaks in E-coli contamination of beef. The incident with Jack-In-The-Box burgers was much to widespread to have been caused by some fecal matter on one beef carcass. Bioterrorism has already been proven in one case where a restaurant salad bar was contaminated with E-coli. Animal rights activists should be considered primary suspects in beef contamination incidents by infiltrating the beef processing plant as an employee. Personally, I never purchase ground beef for this reason. I prefer steaks that can be grill to a rare wellness and still be safely eaten.

2. Food poisoning. Frontline mentioned the number of food born illness occuring each year, but they failed to differentiate between meat contamination and other food born illnesses. Fruit and vegetables contribute highly to the number of food born illness because of contamination with insects, bird fecal matter, etc. Organic vegetables are fertilized with animal fecal matter and then eaten raw. Rodents and flies are commonly found where fruit, vegetables and grains are grown, handled and stored. I never eat anything containing mayonnaise at a social gathering because the possibily of food poisoning is common knowledge.

3. Happy steers. I agree with the feed lot operator in his comment that the steers were content in the feed lot. They looked fat and happy to me. So what if they are not in the most happy situation anyway? Animals in zoos don't look very happy either and being chased by a African lion is not the most pleasant experience for an animal.

4. Authority and responsibility. Frontline and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) blamed the beef industry for producing unsatisfactory beef products, but the USDA turns around and brags about having the "authority" over the industry. It seems to me that the one with the authority also has the responsibility. It was interesting that the federal district court agreed with the beef processing company and against the USDA.

5. USDA Food Pyramid. Frontline criticized the high-carbohydrate grain diet fed to steers in feed lots that is designed to make the steers fat, but they fail to notice that the USDA food guide pyramid is the same diet and produces the same results in humans.

6. Antibiotics. Frontline made a big deal out of the steers being fed antibiotics but failed to mention that USDA regulation prevent any antibiotic residue being allowed in the meat. Supermarket meat does NOT contain antibiotics. Anyway, the human consumption of antibiotics from prescription drugs is epidemic.

7. Super Bug Lie. Frontline did not refute the comment that beef antibiotics create "super bugs," which is totally false. No super bug has ever been identified as resulting from steer antibiotic treatments.

8. Slaughtering. The steer slaughtering process appears to be very good to me, and I would have a difficult time recommending any improvements.

I eat lots of beef. It is delicious and healthy, and I prefer the cuts with the most fat.

Kent

I only saw a couple snippets of the program while I was watching another program. The point they made about mixing the meat from thousands of animals together leading to possible widespread contamination from a single animal makes quite a bit of sense. But it also seems like it would be something that is quite addressable by simply limiting the amount of mixing that takes place interspersed with simple cleaning and sterilizing procedures at production plants between batches in order to isolate and minimize the effects of such occurances - especially when combined with greater awareness and emphasis on proper handling and preparation procedures at the end user's site.

I also caught the remark about the producers having all the responsibility while the USDA keeps all the authority. Sorry - it don't work that way. Perhaps it's just my military and aviation background, but I firmly believe in the concept that responsibility and authority are to be inseparable counterparts. That is why the captain of a ship is given nearly unlimited authority on that vessel - and why the captain of a ship is held personally accountable for everything that happens on that vessel. It is why the pilot-in-command of Air Force One outranks the President of the United States on that aircraft and why the pilot of a small Cessna has the legal authority to disregard any Air Traffic Control directive or procedure they feel places them, their passengers, their crew or their aircraft at risk. In exchange for that authority, the pilot of that Cessna is held legally responsible for safety of that flight. Period. If ATC gives bad instructions and following those instructions results in a crash the pilot is still responsible.

The USDA has turned a fundamental concept on its head. In the military - by centuries old tradition and law - you can delegate authority to permit others to act in your name and hold them accountable to you but you cannot delegate responsibility. If they screw up, you are still responsible to your superiors just as though you had screwed up personally. The USDA wants to delegate responsibility onto others while claiming to maintain authority. That's a recipe for disaster.