Tb Meat

[Bazile]

Would you be happy knowing your child is eating this meat ?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4990976/Defra-selling-TB-meat-banned-for-supermarket-sale.html


//Food and farming ministry Defra is said to make £10 million a year flogging carcasses BANNED by supermarkets to meat processors and caterers.

It supplies around 28,000 a year and says there are “no known cases” of TB being transmitted by eating meat. //

'' no known cases ''

Well that's allright then

[mikey4444]

I'm not sure I understand this. If TB is so terribly dangerous for us to eat, why are we killing 10,000's of cattle each year that have TB ?

And why, for the same reason are we attempting to wipe out the badger population of the UK ?

[Sqad]

\\\If TB is so terribly dangerous for us to eat, why are we killing 10,000's of cattle each year that have TB ? \\

Because it MAY be dangerous for us to eat.

\\\\And why, for the same reason are we attempting to wipe out the badger population of the UK ? \\\

To stop giving the cows TB which if eaten could give US TB.

Bovine TB in humans is not that common.......but it does occur.

[sandyRoe]

If the meat from an animal which had TB was properly cooked would it carry any risk, however small, of the disease?

[Old_Geezer]

I assume that the virus doesn't survive the slaughter and distribution/packing/catering process since otherwise there'd have been an epidemic ages ago, That said I don't agree the industry have any right to keep the public in the dark about the circumstances. If the public opt not to buy that should be their option.

[sandyRoe]

Has Jeremy Hunt any children? He could wheel them out in front of the press to eat hamburgers to show they were safe.
There was a Health Minister during the Thatcher years did that when the risk from BSE was being discussed.

[Bazile]

sandyRoe

Here he is -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/369625.stm

[sandyRoe]

No greater love has a man for his career than that he would hazard the life of his child to advance it.

[sandyRoe]

Thanks, Bazile. I couldn't remember his name.

[Sqad]

Old _Geezer.....TB is a bacillus not a virus.

Yes cooking will kill the bacillus but in undercooked meat, it may well survive.

[Bazile]

Sqad - that's why i like my steaks the way the americans do - 'burnt'

[Sqad]

Bazile..LOL...me too.

[emmie]

no one seems to care what goes into their foodstuffs, going on those seen plodding into McDonald's and other fast food outlets, and loading trolleys full of ready meals, so i guess would they care about this.

[tamborine]

this is worrying from OPs Sun link "...A DEADLY strain of TB is risking cat owners’ lives....."

I'll say bye now then ?

[Old_Geezer]

Apologies Sqad, I didn't check the details :-)

[mikey4444]

Sqad...if eating meat from a TB infected animal MAY give us TB, then why are is the meat from infected animals being sold by DEFRA to meat processors and caterers ? Its either safe or its not...one way or the other.

[Sqad]

mikey......a good question and remember Imam not an expert on this topic.

From what I can gather, any suspicious looking areas of the meat are cut out before being sold on and as bovine TB in humans duentominfected meat, itnis considered by the authorities as an acceptable risk.

LaztyGun will vie you a more authoratitive answer.

[LazyGun]

Very good article on this issue at the NHS Choices website.

Good, dispassionate and objective analysis. No known cases of bTB transmission via eating meat. In the UK, population 60 million, over a period of 17 years, the total number of cases of bTB transmission to humans was around 570, or 33 a year, and most of those cases were from drinking unpasteurised milk.

And there is the point. People are manufacturing a huge, hand-waving "won't somebody think of the children" controversy over this, but take the risk that the pasteurisation process has been carried out and killed of the bTB bacillum that might have been in their milk.

It is, instinctively an "eww" kind of thought - but rationally, the whole thing seems unduly sensationalised to me, although I do understand peoples reaction to this. None of us will like the idea that our food could harm us. Fact is, unless proper precautions are taken, a lot of our foodstuffs have the capability - Dairy and eggs, for instance...

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/07July/Pages/Concerns-raised-about-bovine-TB-infected-meat.aspx

[douglas9401]

On The World At One yesterday an an interviewee said something to the effect of diseased parts of an animal were easily identifiable by vets or slaughterhouse operatives and could be simply and safely removed.
The impression I was left with was that of cutting off the mould from a piece of cheese and carrying on to eat the remainder.

[Sqad]

Lazy.....thanks...you are an example of fair minded rational analysis.

To sum up:
Bovine TB in humans is rare....but it happens.
Infected meat may be made safe by excising the diseased part and cooking.
Get your beef from supermarkets and you may well eradicate any chance of bovine TB infection.

Concerns:
I have had my confidence in Governmental reports and "robust" statistics "unsettled in recent years.

There is a rise of cattle bovine TB.

Concerns about the Tubercle bacillus becoming resistant to anti-tuberculous chemotherapy.

Am I worried?...at my age......NO.

Do I trust Governmental and Scientific statistics?......mmm!