Beef Cows Fed Potato Chips and Chocolate - Junk Food In Junk Food Out

News Type: Event — Seeded on Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:14 AM EDT

Article Source: thedailygreen.com

business, agriculture, ethanol, chocolate, cows, e-coli, potato-chips, fertilizers, corn-production

Has the ethanol boom led to the rash of E. coli-contaminated beef recalls?

It's possible. Here's how:

The demand for ethanol, the fuel additive and purported gas substitute, has been higher than ever because Congress started requiring a higher percentage of ethanol in the nation's fuel supply. As has been well documented, the increased corn production has enriched chemical fertilizer and pesticide companies, increased agricultural runoff has fed a near-record dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, and the diversion of corn from food and feed to fuel has contributed to a worldwide run-up in food commodity prices. (These are only the start to corn-based ethanol's problems; if we planted all U.S. cropland in corn, it would still only supply about 20% of our demand, and require so much fossil fuel fertilizer that we'd still be contributing nearly as much to global warming and importing loads of energy.)

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{"commentId":2472304,"authorDomain":"marilynl"}

Marilyn L

I'm speechless:

"I don't know of any research yet on the impacts of feeding cows potato chips, but it sure isn't what they are built to eat," Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, wrote in an e-mail.

"And it opens up the whole topic of how little research there really is on the food safety impacts of what cattle are fed. Basically, land grant universities that do most of the research on livestock issues are not very likely to criticize (or even fully examine) 'modern' or more 'efficient' techniques of raising cattle, especially what they are fed."

What research is out there is suggestive. A 1998 USDA and Cornell University study showed that feeding cows grass right before slaughter decreased the E. coli counts in their guts, and would make human infections less likely. (Lovera said the research was "basically shut down after the industry protested it.") A study just this spring showed that E. coli counts were twice as high in the hindguts of cows fed distiller's grains (ethanol waste) as those fed a "traditional" corn diet.

{"commentId":2472304,"threadId":"333090","contentId":"1754073","authorDomain":"marilynl"}

1 vote

#1 - Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:15 AM EDT

{"commentId":2473959,"authorDomain":"newbroom"}

newbroom

I wonder if milk cows got this diet, would they *give* chocolate milk?....I guess that's kinda corny..

{"commentId":2473959,"threadId":"333090","contentId":"1754073","authorDomain":"newbroom"}

1 vote

#2 - Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:25 PM EDT

{"commentId":2474624,"authorDomain":"darkknightjrk"}

Jared Kardos

Can someone explain to me in what Bizarro World would someone think this is a good idea? I mean, I know there's shortages with eathenol production, but Christ, surely there's a better alternative?

{"commentId":2474624,"threadId":"333090","contentId":"1754073","authorDomain":"darkknightjrk"}

1 vote

#3 - Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:06 PM EDT

{"commentId":2474745,"authorDomain":"marilynl"}

Marilyn L

Excellent question Jared, coming to a grocery store near you...

{"commentId":2474745,"threadId":"333090","contentId":"1754073","authorDomain":"marilynl"}

1 vote

#3.1 - Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:21 PM EDT

{"commentId":2476150,"authorDomain":"inEden"}

inEden

It goes to show you that allowing companies to choose............
They would feed them our own !@#* if they could.

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#4 - Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:10 PM EDT

{"commentId":2478547,"authorDomain":"backroadsbubba"}

backroads

That's not a beef cow in the photo.

Distiller's grain is not waste from ethanol production; it's a co-product, along with CO2.

I know a guy who feeds his dairy cattle fresh orange juice pulp from a nearby plant that formerly went to the landfill.

{"commentId":2478547,"threadId":"333090","contentId":"1754073","authorDomain":"backroadsbubba"}

#5 - Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:37 AM EDT

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MARILYN L

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Beef Cows Fed Potato Chips and Chocolate - Junk Food In Junk Food Out

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