So... What are YOU doing? - Part 4

[Lamb]

Chicken poop too

And cat pee.

 

[MoreCoffee]

And cat pee.

cat poop too, those cats like to bury it

 

[tango]

I am planning to cook some chicken with potatoes and onions and butter chicken sauce.

I had chicken last night. My wife has taken to buying chicken thighs rather than chicken breasts because they have a better flavor. They took longer to cook than expected but tasted good in the end. She wrapped them in bacon. Bacon makes everything better.

 

[tango]

There is absolutely no way for you to actually verify this. Did you watch the video? Banned in the EU but not in your beloved US of A. Your beloved State FDA allows for it, so the butcher can legally do it with certain rather obscure labeling laws that are misleading to put it mildly. That's if he's actually following the law. The use of "meat glue" and other industry type schemes basically rely on your trust in the labeling. Your eye cannot differentiate between "cow meat" and "rat meat" when it is so processed. If the meat is as advertised from the animal it says then your eye cannot tell what part of the cow the meat comes from. Your eye can tell a carrot from a bell pepper from an apple by it's color and shape and relative size, and your experience can tell you a seed is real when it transforms itself into a plant under certain conditions - but much of the meat you eat relies on trust. Your trust in your butcher - that he's following the law and your government - that they are enacting laws for your benefit and not their own reasons.

Money, of course, has no play in all of this.

It is somewhat ironic that you mention where things are banned, then talk about the issue of whether a butcher even follows the law. So presumably all sorts of ugly things could be glued together in the EU and maybe Australia, given butchers may not be following the law there either.

Maybe cheap meat is little more than rat parts glued together to look good. But then maybe it is a perfectly good steak near its sell-by date and the retailer would rather get $5 for it today than risk having to throw it away tomorrow.

 

[Lamb]

Chicken poop too

Speaking of chicken poo, salmonella cases are on the rise as people are keeping chickens as pets! Their poo can contain salmonella even in seemingly healthy looking birds. If their manure is used for fertilization it can be quite dangerous!

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

I just got back from an interview with H & R Block for a receptionist job for tax season. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[NewCreation435]

I have been doing paperwork all morning and seeing a client this afternoon and then going to gym to work out

 

[tango]

I had a really nice walk in the woods. I decided not to do my normal trail and chose a different one. It's one I've hiked with my wife a few times - it's an out-and-back trail rather than a loop and it's about five miles of rolling hills, rather than 3 miles of relentless uphill followed by 3 miles of downhill. I wore long pants because the last time I hiked it the grasses were over knee high and I hear the ticks are bad this year. It turned out to have been mowed so I could have worn my shorts.

Either way it was a really nice walk, got me some exercise and some fresh air. Then I went to the hardware store to get some electrical tape... since my cut from the wallpapr scraper is healing nicely I can get back to my renovation work.

 

[Ruth]

Watching the early news shows.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

And cat pee.

That's unsettling when I click on "subscribed threads", come here, and this is the first thing I see...

 

[MoreCoffee]

That's unsettling when I click on "subscribed threads", come here, and this is the first thing I see...

That's a good reason never to subscribe to any threads.

:smirk:

 

[MoreCoffee]

I had chicken last night. My wife has taken to buying chicken thighs rather than chicken breasts because they have a better flavor. They took longer to cook than expected but tasted good in the end. She wrapped them in bacon. Bacon makes everything better.

Makes one kind of glad to be neither a Jew nor a Muslim

:smirk:

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

Going to check on another rental place. This one's a basement suite (private), on the end of town where I want to be. There have been a few people in to view it already, though. Going to make a good pitch for it - relatively new place.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Going to check on another rental place. This one's a basement suite (private), on the end of town where I want to be. There have been a few people in to view it already, though. Going to make a good pitch for it - relatively new place.

God be with you. I hope you find a good place to live that is also affordable for you and well located.

 

[Stravinsk]

It is somewhat ironic that you mention where things are banned, then talk about the issue of whether a butcher even follows the law. So presumably all sorts of ugly things could be glued together in the EU and maybe Australia, given butchers may not be following the law there either.

Maybe cheap meat is little more than rat parts glued together to look good. But then maybe it is a perfectly good steak near its sell-by date and the retailer would rather get $5 for it today than risk having to throw it away tomorrow.

The Aussie butcher is not exempt from the temptation to make more profit using a product like meat glue than a US butcher. It is used here as well. It may still be used in the EU - but the point there is, it's banned - so it will be harder to find/source. This is especially true because the only people interested in such a product would be the meat industry and butchers, not the general populace. So while it may still be used in the EU, chances are greater that it's not.

It is most definitely used in the USA, and it's use is widespread and legal. So the chances are much greater that the meat consumer is getting ripped off with far inferior products that carry a lot more bacteria and undesireable parts that people would not normally even eat.

The point about cheap meat is, you don't know for certain and can't assume the reason for it being cheap.

1. It could be cheap for the very reason one thinks - close to or at use by date. Practically, that mostly applies to meat not being frozen for storage. People assume it will just be "thrown out". Maybe, maybe not. If I was a butcher and my meat was nearing it's use by date - I'd be making jerky out of it instead of just wasting it by throwing it away.
2. It could be cheap because although it's shaped like a filet mignon, it could be from other parts of the cow and glued together. Parts people might not be so keen to munch on - like a cow's rectal cavity or sexual organ.
3. If the meat isn't specified, it could contain flesh from a variety of animals and parts from them.
4. Like any processed product, one must trust the label. If one thinks that the labels are always 100% correct and no Corporation bound to it's shareholders to put profit (not people or animals) FIRST, by law - would be tempted to deceive through misleading or false labeling - that is simply naive.

 

[Stravinsk]

Speaking of chicken poo, salmonella cases are on the rise as people are keeping chickens as pets! Their poo can contain salmonella even in seemingly healthy looking birds. If their manure is used for fertilization it can be quite dangerous!

The only chance one can get E. Coli or salmonella from eating plants is if the plants/sprouts come into contact with contaminated water and/or contaminated raw animal flesh either in the kitchen, the processing plant or in the field where waste run off from factory farms comes into contact with plants.

The plants do not grow either E. Coli or Salmonella. Infected plants have to get it from infected animals - contact with their flesh or their feces.

 

[tango]

Makes one kind of glad to be neither a Jew nor a Muslim

:smirk:

Or a vegetarian, for that matter.

 

[tango]

The Aussie butcher is not exempt from the temptation to make more profit using a product like meat glue than a US butcher. It is used here as well. It may still be used in the EU - but the point there is, it's banned - so it will be harder to find/source. This is especially true because the only people interested in such a product would be the meat industry and butchers, not the general populace. So while it may still be used in the EU, chances are greater that it's not.

Being illegal doesn't necessarily make it hard to get hold of. It's not exactly hard to find drugs in many European cities.

It is most definitely used in the USA, and it's use is widespread and legal. So the chances are much greater that the meat consumer is getting ripped off with far inferior products that carry a lot more bacteria and undesireable parts that people would not normally even eat.

Sure, the chances are higher. That's why you'd look for brands and labels that you would hope to be able to trust. It's also a good reason not to buy the super-bargain-basement "meat" products - if you pay 99c for a burger which includes an unknown number of levels of markup you know there's maybe 10c worth of meat in it, which does invite questions as to just what sort of meat it is.

The point about cheap meat is, you don't know for certain and can't assume the reason for it being cheap.

1. It could be cheap for the very reason one thinks - close to or at use by date. Practically, that mostly applies to meat not being frozen for storage. People assume it will just be "thrown out". Maybe, maybe not. If I was a butcher and my meat was nearing it's use by date - I'd be making jerky out of it instead of just wasting it by throwing it away.
2. It could be cheap because although it's shaped like a filet mignon, it could be from other parts of the cow and glued together. Parts people might not be so keen to munch on - like a cow's rectal cavity or sexual organ.
3. If the meat isn't specified, it could contain flesh from a variety of animals and parts from them.
4. Like any processed product, one must trust the label. If one thinks that the labels are always 100% correct and no Corporation bound to it's shareholders to put profit (not people or animals) FIRST, by law - would be tempted to deceive through misleading or false labeling - that is simply naive.

You can't know for certain but all things being equal one would think the unscrupulous butcher cobbling together something that looks like a sirloin steak but is really an unpleasant aggregate of all the less desirable parts you mention wouldn't then discount it because it was within a day of its use by date. One would think the unscrupulous butcher would put a generous use by date on it and sell the same bundle of bovine intestine for more than a bargain basement price. You know, why sell it for $5 if you can sell the same thing for $20? An unscrupulous butcher isn't going to worry too much about the best by date if he's not worried about selling bovine intestines blended neatly with rat meat as if it were sirloin steak.

I don't think anyone is denying it's naive to assume that nobody would ever be tempted to bend or break the rules to make a quick buck. I guess it's an advantage of living in an agricultural area where you get to personally know the people who grow crops and who farm animals.

 

[Stravinsk]

Being illegal doesn't necessarily make it hard to get hold of. It's not exactly hard to find drugs in many European cities.

When the demand for anything is high and the thing demanded is illegal, people will take risks to bring it to the market. Perhaps you paid no notice, but this point was addressed in my quote. The only entities interested in such a product that rips off the general population through deception is the meat industry and individual butchers. No one else is likely to want something like "meat glue" and most probably are not even aware that it's used.

Sure, the chances are higher. That's why you'd look for brands and labels that you would hope to be able to trust. It's also a good reason not to buy the super-bargain-basement "meat" products - if you pay 99c for a burger which includes an unknown number of levels of markup you know there's maybe 10c worth of meat in it, which does invite questions as to just what sort of meat it is.

$2.50 for 1 filet mignon sounds bargain basement to me. Again, it could be because of nearing use by date. Or maybe something else. Why assume it's just going to go to waste? Like I said, if I were a butcher I'd be making jerky out of meat that is getting near it's use by date.

As for "brands to trust" - exactly how would you know for certain what's going into the meat you buy? Does ground up rectum or penis or tongue taste different from ground up muscle meat? Do the "brands we can trust" openly advertise that there is fecal eating bacteria in nearly the majority of ground meat we buy? And why do you imagine that bacteria is there? It's because there is poop in the food. People just don't want to think about it.

You can't know for certain but all things being equal one would think the unscrupulous butcher cobbling together something that looks like a sirloin steak but is really an unpleasant aggregate of all the less desirable parts you mention wouldn't then discount it because it was within a day of its use by date. One would think the unscrupulous butcher would put a generous use by date on it and sell the same bundle of bovine intestine for more than a bargain basement price. You know, why sell it for $5 if you can sell the same thing for $20? An unscrupulous butcher isn't going to worry too much about the best by date if he's not worried about selling bovine intestines blended neatly with rat meat as if it were sirloin steak.

I don't think anyone is denying it's naive to assume that nobody would ever be tempted to bend or break the rules to make a quick buck. I guess it's an advantage of living in an agricultural area where you get to personally know the people who grow crops and who farm animals.

No, "one" would not think that. Decaying smelly meat is decaying smelly meat, regardless of what part of the cow, pig or chook it comes from, so putting a longer use by date on it is the last thing a smart butcher who wants to keep his customers happy is likely to do. Meat glue that makes un-sought after cuts look more like steak or filet mignon is much more likely to be used, especially when it is legal and the average person doesn't even know about it.

 

[tango]

When the demand for anything is high and the thing demanded is illegal, people will take risks to bring it to the market. Perhaps you paid no notice, but this point was addressed in my quote. The only entities interested in such a product that rips off the general population through deception is the meat industry and individual butchers. No one else is likely to want something like "meat glue" and most probably are not even aware that it's used.

Sure, just like nobody except body builders are likely to be interested in anabolic steroids but it's still not that hard to find them.

$2.50 for 1 filet mignon sounds bargain basement to me. Again, it could be because of nearing use by date. Or maybe something else. Why assume it's just going to go to waste? Like I said, if I were a butcher I'd be making jerky out of meat that is getting near it's use by date.

You could make jerky into it, or you could just sell it cheaply to get something from it. Depending on just what sort of outlet I was running I'd consider both.

As for "brands to trust" - exactly how would you know for certain what's going into the meat you buy? Does ground up rectum or penis or tongue taste different from ground up muscle meat? Do the "brands we can trust" openly advertise that there is fecal eating bacteria in nearly the majority of ground meat we buy? And why do you imagine that bacteria is there? It's because there is poop in the food. People just don't want to think about it.

A lot of people don't think about their food. That's why they buy the bargain basement sausages where you get 36 sausages for 99c. It's why people eat pork pies and cheap fast food. I don't think anyone who eats at McDonalds truly believes that the burgers are made from prime cuts of steak, ground into a burger they can have for less than a dollar.

Perhaps you paid no notice, but I commented on the advantages of living in an area where you can get to personally know people who grow crops and farm animals. It takes away a lot of the middlemen and reduces the number of opportunities for someone to make a fast buck by palming things off as being something other than what they really are.

No, "one" would not think that. Decaying smelly meat is decaying smelly meat, regardless of what part of the cow, pig or chook it comes from, so putting a longer use by date on it is the last thing a smart butcher who wants to keep his customers happy is likely to do. Meat glue that makes un-sought after cuts look more like steak or filet mignon is much more likely to be used, especially when it is legal and the average person doesn't even know about it.

You can fiddle with best before dates without selling things that are rotten. If a butcher or retailer is unscrupulous enough to sell someone rat meat and claim it's filet mignon I wouldn't presume that anything should be considered beneath them.