NationStates Jolt Archive

A significant amount of beef sold in pubs and restaurants as "local" or "British" actually comes from abroad, a BBC investigation has found.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7377416.stm

Do you/would you eat British beef? Do you think it any more safe or unsafe than beef from elsewhere?

I think that, after all the years of problems the farming industry has had, it is probably some of the safest beef in the world - they now have such strong measures in place to ensure that the BSE crisis doesn't ever happen again. I don't have any problem with eating it.

As long as it's safe, sure, why not? Beef is good. :cool:

i dont know that i have ever eaten british beef but i wouldnt hesitate if it was offered to me. i agree that it is unlikely to be a higher risk than beef from anyplace else.

beef is beef...unless it is in a sandwich in which case it is a sin :p

beef is beef...unless it is in a sandwich in which case it is a sin :p

But what do you do with the leftovers from your roast if you can't put them in a sandwich?

I've got a mate who came over from the UK when he was seven, and he'd never eaten beef before he came here. So... no.

During the undercover investigation, the BBC secretly took samples of beef from 40 pubs or restaurants and sent it off for DNA-analysis.

*snicker* I've got this mental images of scientists in white coats sitting in pubs trying to scrape pieces of their meals into test tubes.

I have no problem eating beef, I just make the assumption that it's safe from prions and such.

Definitely and to be honest it's probably safer than other places. I remember when I was living in Belgium at the height of the BSE scare that there was a news story, carefully tucked away, that there had been outbreaks among continental cows too. However because it got buried none of the incredibly stringent safety measures got put in.

If I was going to buy it however, I would buy it at our local butchers (who sources everything locally) or the farmers market (and indeed do), simply because the quality is better.

But what do you do with the leftovers from your roast if you can't put them in a sandwich?

give it to the animals because thats where table scraps go peasant :p

give it to the animals because thats where table scraps go peasant :p

That's a waste of perfectly good beef! Make some beef stew or something if you hate sandwiches so much. :p

I'm fair certain I've never eaten British beef, and I'm not all that likely to be presented with the opportunity again any time soon.

Do you/would you eat British beef?

I don't eat beef.

Were I to one day lose all my intellectual faculties and resort to such a vile act, though, I would never eat anything but Swedish beef; the wretchedness of the act would be diminished by the lower carbon footprint of local animal torture and desecration of their abused carcasses, and besides you cannot get British beef anywhere here because it is fortunately viewed as diseased - for a grocer to carry it, he might as well try to sell people shrink-wrapped prion concentrate under a "Mad Cow" label. Even Irish beef has a hard time selling, so firm is the association.

i like it and have no problem with eating it.
I think British beef is probably safer to eat than most other countries beef, if only because of all the stringent measures the farmers have to go through.

mooooo.
:)

yes, i eat British beef. and i buy it from farm shops or farmers' markets, so i know where its come from (and can often see the cows out in the field while i'm buying it, too)

i also like veal.... yummy :)

and i do try to eat local, which is why i try to get a lot of my meat, at least, from farmers markets or farm shops, and not trust the supermarkets or chains to actually do real local foods.

"It's pure exploitation of consumer demand for real local food"

yup.

I don't eat beef.

Were I to one day lose all my intellectual faculties and resort to such a vile act, though, I would never eat anything but Swedish beef; the wretchedness of the act would be diminished by the lower carbon footprint of local animal torture and desecration of their abused carcasses,

I would have thought the knowledge that they were Swedish would be torture enough for the poor creatures.

and besides you cannot get British beef anywhere here because it is fortunately viewed as diseased - for a grocer to carry it, he might as well try to sell people shrink-wrapped prion concentrate under a "Mad Cow" label. Even Irish beef has a hard time selling, so firm is the association.

I always thought that Swedes were a little intelligent. I was right.

It really is little.

*blaarrg* I HATE beef...

But, if we arent supposed to eat cows, then why are they made of beef?

:p

I would have thought the knowledge that they were Swedish would be torture enough for the poor creatures.

I would have thought anthropomorphising is something humans do, not cows.

I always thought that Swedes were a little intelligent. I was right.

It really is little.

You're just sad no one wants your diseased beef and lull yourself into the false security of "we've the most diseased one and we know it, so it's safe to eat it because it's most diseased and we know it!". It's the same sort of "argument" used by some HIV-infected people: "Come on, baby, have sex with me! You know I'm diseased, but we'll use a condom, so you needn't worry." With the difference of course that condoms are far more reliable than any foreign government, especially the notoriously incompetent British one.

It's the same sort of "argument" used by some HIV-infected people: "Come on, baby, have sex with me! You know I'm diseased, but we'll use a condom, so you needn't worry."

:eek: you've heard that one?

I would have thought the knowledge that they were Swedish would be torture enough for the poor creatures.



I always thought that Swedes were a little intelligent. I was right.

It really is little.

Hey now, dont you know the rules? Fass can rip on anything he wants, but we cant rip on anything even remotally related to Fass, the Swedes included.

:eek: you've heard that one?

Yup. I've also heard: "But I'm on anti-virals and have no measurable viraemia, so it would be quite safe, you see."

Yes and yes. On a language trip to London right after the mad cow hype we ate hamburgers while happily discussing the BSE issue and nobody in the group seemed bothered by that.

There's nothign wrong with British beef... even with BSE you'd have to be eating cow brain, if I'm right with my facts. ONE bloke has ever got BSE, to be knowledge. So yes. I've eaten it in the past, and I would in future. If I weren't vegtarian.

ONE bloke has ever got BSE, to be knowledge.

"Be knowledge" is quite inaccurate. Some 160-170 cases of vCJD have been seen in the UK thus far. Many more can be expected if it shows to be correct that the suspected incubation period ranges into decades of years.

<i hate British government and other thoughts only an infidel would entertain>

:mad:
I refuse to accept that the British government can be compared to the safety of sex with a person HIV positive. Infidel!

When the UK government decides to legalize freedom of thought, I might think about buying British.

I have never eaten British beef, maybe when I am in Britain maybe. I have only eaten Australian Beef, not only is it the local beef but is considered by many to be of the best quality beef in the world.

But what do you do with the leftovers from your roast if you can't put them in a sandwich?
Have you never heard of soup?

I don't eat beef since the whole mad cow thing. I'd rather have chicken, pork or lamb, anyway.