Where's the Beef????

The beef trade laments falling sales. It blames B.S.E.; it points a finger at the zealots from C.A.R.M. (The Campaign Against Red Meat), rising production costs and pomegranate diets.

In fact the industry identifies everything but the central reason for the public's disillusionment with this fine meat.

The truth of the matter is that too much of the stuff is plain rubbish. It's just about fit to feed to your dog (so long as you're not too fond of your dog).

There was a time, forty or fifty years ago, when the beef on the butcher's slab was a very different item than it is today. It was almost always from a meat bullock, not a dairy cow.

Domestic cattle are bred either for meat or dairy. They are not properly interchangeable.

Altogether too much second-rate dairy meat gets into the stores now. It is insipid, prone to toughness and is insufficient in the right kind of fat.

In those halcyon days of beautiful beef, it wasn't bright red and, of course, had no business being bright red. Such a color describes meat that has not been hung for at least two or three weeks in a dry, cold atmosphere.

One major reason for not hanging meat is that, as the liquid content evaporates over the period, there is less weight to sell and profit margins are thus eroded. The butcher could increase the price but at the risk of customer complaints.

Bright red meat is likely to be lacking in any depth of flavor. The color of properly hung meat is very dark red, almost brown in fact.

The fat surrounding the meat, then, was yellow. The animals grazed on grass, the only proper food for cattle. The chemical action of the chlorophyll in the grass causes the yellowness.

The animals were never fed on barley or grain in feedlots. It is those feedstuffs that cause the fat to be hard and white.

It's a sad fact that producers have managed to persuade consumers that they actually prefer 'creamy white' fat. The simple truth is that it's just a darned sight cheaper to produce. The consumer has been led by the nose, all the way to tasteless, bland, mass-produced rubbish.

After roasting, the underlying fat disappeared and rendered down into dripping (tallow), leaving a thin delicious brown crust. They were certainly never given hormone supplements to dramatically increase their weight. Happily this potentially dangerous practice has now been banned within the E.U.

So, having said all of the above, is beef a totally lost cause? Is there anything that can be done to put quality meat on your table again?

Yes there is, and the first skirmish in the battle is for you to be pretty aggressive with your butcher.

Ask why the fat is white. Why is the meat the color of 1920s lipstick? Will it be tender? If the answer is "Yes" then ask how that can be when the meat has clearly not been hung. Was the animal fed hormones? Was it fed cattle cake during the winter? Cattle cake often contains heavy metals, substances that you really do not need in your diet.

Persuade your carnivorous friends that the situation is not good enough. Start a campaign to force your butcher to stock what you want, not necessarily what he wants to sell to you.

An excellent read on the subject is the old favorite 'Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal' by Eric Schlosser. There is a lot of good information there, about the beef that reaches the consumer in the United States.

One sure-fire route out of the sad beef loop is to buy organic. Whether it is healthier or not is a subject for the scientists. What is absolutely certain, though, is that it tastes so much better.

If the price of organic beef is too steep, then there are plenty of small farmers producing grass-fed beef.

To buy the very best of beef, you have to be prepared to pay quite a lot more. Maybe the answer is to eat it less often but for it to be a great experience when you do invest.

Unfortunately, if you're a 32oz steak person, you are going to need a pretty fat wallet!

Harmful Chemicals in the Meat You Eat?

By Mike Sullivan

Many people may not realize it, but much of the meat we eat contains synthetic growth hormones and other chemicals that may be harmful to us. Why would cattle owners want to use growth hormones? It is all about money. Ranchers today want to produce more cattle in a shorter period. A rancher may only have about 14 months to get the calf from a small size, say 80 pounds, to a selling size (around 1,200 pounds). Growth hormones help the cattle put on weight to get them ready for slaughter in record time as well as reducing the amount of fat in the meat. Nitrates are a chemical compound that can also be found in meat today, being used to cure meat and give them a healthy color. Most notably, nitrates are found in hotdogs, giving them their red color.

The use of hormones in meat is nothing new. As far back as the 1930s, research shows that estrogen affected the growth rates in both cattle and poultry. By the 1950s, a synthetic (man made) estrogen, DES, was being used to increase cattle size. However, DES was found to cause cancer and is no longer used to "fatten" up cattle and chickens.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) current approves of five different types of hormones used in food production. Of these, testosterone and progesterone are produced naturally by the animals and zeranol and trenbolone acetate are synthetically made. These hormones are approved for use only in cattle and sheep. Poultry, such as chickens and turkeys, and pigs do not gain much weight when given these hormones, so they are not given them. Most of these hormones are given to the animal by inserting a pellet under the skin of the ear. The pellet releases the hormone and the ears of the animals are thrown away during slaughtered.

The concern of scientist and consumers both is that traces of the hormones and chemicals will remain in the meat and pose a potential hazard to humans who consume it. Have you noticed that girls today seem to be reaching puberty at a younger age? It is suspected that this may be due to the steroids found in today's meat. Unfortunately, studies done on the potentially harmful ingredients in meat have proved inconclusive and further studies are needed. One problem when conducting a study is that the animals produce some of the hormones naturally, therefore making it hard to determine how much is natural versus the pellet hormones. Also, the level of hormones produced naturally varies from animal to animal, another hurdle for researchers to overcome. The concern with nitrates, used to cure meats and give them a pink or red color, is that they can be converted into nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are believed to both cause and promote cancer. However, the FDA has no studies that decisively finds nitrates used in meats harmful, therefore continue to allow them to be used in processed foods.

What should you as a consumer do? One thing you can do is purchase organic meat. Organic meat comes from livestock raised without hormones or steroids. Also, the cattle are fed grains with no pesticides involved. In 2002, the United States Department of Agriculture developed a system whereas all organic foods (including meat) would be labeled as such. So when shopping, you should see a label on organic meat that signifies that it contains at least 95% organic ingredients. Some grocery stores carry organic meat, but if not, you may have to visit a butcher shop or health food store to find it. You can even buy organic meat through the Internet and have it delivered to your home. However, if you decided to purchase meat online, you may want to first order a small amount. That way, you can determine if it meets all your specifications for delivery time, freshness, etc. before buying a larger quantity.

As ranchers strive to find ways to get more cattle to slaughter faster, consumers will continue to be concerned in the methods they are using to do it. Until more research is done, the best thing you can do it try to be aware of all the dangers out there by staying abreast of the current research being done on cattle hormones and chemicals used in processing meats, and purchase organic meat for your family.

Mike Sullivan is a grill master and meat lover. He is the author and owner of Buy-Steaks-Online.net. Read his most recent report on How To Marinate Steaks to put the most flavor into your next steak meal.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Sullivan