06 Sep 2004
Japan Panel Recommends Dropping Cow Tests (AP)

Buried in this article proving that stupidity respects no national boundries is a very interesting little factoid:

About 80 percent of U.S. beef cattle are slaughtered before they reach 20 months of age, Kyodo reported. Therefore, most U.S. beef would thus become exportable to Japan if cows younger than 20 months are excluded from the test.

A hundred years ago, beef that young would've been considered veal. The classic Bos taurus, wild cattle, ancestor of all of todays domestic breeds, reached maturity at 3 to 5 years. As farming has become an "industry", we've bred for bigger frames and stuffed the results with grain so that "market weight" could be reached earlier.

"Market weight" is not, however, the same thing as "mature". This is why supermarket beef is fattier, and has a less well defined texture than beef from traditional breeds raised strictly on pasture and slaughtered after reaching maturity. The taste difference is pronounced: in our rush for quantity, quality has suffered.

It's why I can stay in business, raising cattle (and chickens, and sheep) the way I do: people can tell quality, and are willing to pay for it.

AP - Japan could stop testing newborn and younger cows for mad cow disease without posing a risk to public health, a special panel decided Monday, in a ruling that could influence talks to lift Tokyo's ban on American beef imports.

(link) [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]

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