A Big Food Safety Problem

categories: Food Safety, Health, Livestock, Policy, Politics

Published July 30, 2009 @ 11:29AM PT

Sick cows are one of our biggest food safety problems:

... Acidosis is often associated with a shift from a foragebased diet to a high concentrate-based diet or excessive consumption of fermentable carbohydrates. Acidosis may occur in cattle on high-grain diets common with youth livestock projects, bull development programs, and cattle finishing programs. It can also occur in stocker calves when self-feeders and highstarch feeds such as corn are used.

Acidosis is the result of low rumen pH. The typical pH of the rumen on a forage-based diet is 6 to 7. As the amount of forage or roughage in the diet decreases and the amount of concentrate increases, the pH of the rumen falls between 5 and 6, depending on the forage to concentrate ratio of the diet. Low pH supports growth of lactic acid-producing bacteria. Lactic acid is very strong and reduces rumen pH even more. Acute (severe) acidosis occurs when ruminal pH drops below 5.2, while subacute (less severe) acidosis occurs at a ruminal pH of less than 5.6. Laminitis, liver abscesses, and polioencephalomalacia often accompany acidosis. ...

Cows with acidosis, who've been fed grain instead of forage, produce deadly E. coli that can survive our stomachs. Healthy cows with a nearly neutral rumen pH still have E. coli in their guts, but these varieties of the bacterium are easily handled by our bodies.

The food safety bill that may be resurrected this week, H.R. 2749, does not address this topic, even though it laudably expands federal food recall powers beyond the toothless "voluntary recall." It does impose regressive fees on the sort of small producers not generally responsible for large-scale food contamination.

Congressional leadership may also put it up for a vote under a closed rule, which means no amendments can be offered. Again, I point you to the Center for Rural Affairs analysis of the vote situation. I'd hope that the pressure Congress feels to do something doesn't lead, as it so often does, to doing something stupid.

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Comments (4)

And there's the horror suffered by these poor young steers who must be slaughtered at 13 months because so much damage has been done to their intestinal tracts due to Genetically Modified Corn Stalks, Sludge and Waste...

their suffering is heartbreaking, and our suffering as well when we eat their flesh and suffer from dis-ease.

Wonder how we can get non involved folks more interested?

Thank you for putting this out here. : )

Posted by Cdin Org on 07/31/2009 @ 04:08PM PT
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If you want people to get involved; take personal opinions out of it. As soon as average Americans hear, "animal rights," they tend to head for the hills. Empathy toward animals only goes so far in the general public.

So, you do as Natasha does. You write the basic facts. Tell people how the conditions in which these animals are raised, can affect human health, and both sides get what they want. (A silent victory still counts as a victory.)

Posted by L.S. hope on 07/31/2009 @ 07:15PM PT
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Woops, meant to reply to your comment but clicked on wrong Post Comment button. My response below. Thanks!

Posted by Cdin Org on 07/31/2009 @ 07:47PM PT
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LS Hope -

Thank you for that! Very helpful. Am noticing that people also run for the hills when one mentions the words, "help, or "donation."

i KNOW my friends, family and associates will not appreciate email requests for money...

idea: perhaps will offer to send a dollar or more to their charity of choice if they send to mine. All's fair in love and donating! : )

Thanks again.

Posted by Cdin Org on 07/31/2009 @ 07:46PM PT
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Natasha is an amateur eater with severe snarkolepsy and a c. 2002 blogging habit. She had a fabulous time studying ecological agriculture and policy at The Evergreen State College, and even did her homework while writing at various times for pacificviews.org, boomantribune.com, and mydd.com.