If this doesn't make you a vegetarian, nothing will!

I think I'm going to go beat my carrot now...

 

If half-naked women aren't enough, maybe this will help...

<i>Beef recall grows to 21 states, 18 million pounds
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A recall of contaminated hamburger linked to E. coli bacteria illnesses among 19 people is being expanded to 18 million pounds and 21 states including Texas, the Agriculture Department said today.

"This action is being taken as a cautionary measure to ensure the protection of public health," said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "Public health is our number one priority and it is our number one concern."

The beef recall by ConAgra Beef Co. of Greeley, Colo., expands a previous recall at the end of last month. E. Coli bacteria associated with the beef has sickened at least 19 people in Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming, the agency said.

The meat was produced between April 12 and July 11, officials said. Officials are still collecting details and expect to release later information that will allow consumers to identify products that should be returned to stores or discarded.

"This has just begun," said Elsa Murano, the undersecretary for food safety. She said no E. coli has been found at the plant since July 11.

ConAgra is cooperating with the Agriculture Department, officials said. Veneman, asked if the department will cite the company for violations, said a government investigation at the plant is continuing.

The recall is the biggest since 1997, when Hudson Foods recalled 25 million pounds of ground beef after 15 people in Colorado fell ill from E. coli after eating hamburger from its Columbus, Neb., plant.

Two weeks ago, the company recalled 354,200 pounds of ground beef and nearly a month after a positive E. coli test at a Denver packing house raised the first sign of trouble.

E. coli is a bacteria found in the intestinal tracts and feces of livestock.

If it contaminates meat, it can lead to digestive illnesses and potentially death in humans. Health officials have been urging consumers to cook their ground beef to 160 degrees in the center to completely kill the pathogen.

Agriculture officials said there have been at least 17 confirmed cases of illness in Colorado, one in Wyoming and one in South Dakota. No one is currently hospitalized, although some people have been admitted and released, they said.

Testing is under way in other states as public health officials tried to establish the scope of the outbreak.

The voluntary recall is of beef trim, which is used to make ground beef, as well as fresh and frozen ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7, officials said.

The first ConAgra beef recall involved cases shipped to Colorado, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, Kansas, Michigan, Texas, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, New York, California, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, New Jersey, Minnesota, Arizona and Idaho.

The Agriculture Department has not released a list of states involved in the updated recall.

"We are not certain at this time whether every single state in the nation has received some of the products," said Steven Cohen, an Agriculture Department spokesman.

Americans ate 69.5 pounds of beef per person in 2000, reflecting steady but modest increases since 1993, when consumption fell to 65.1 pounds, officials said. </i>

 

Sorry guys, looking at that picture just made me want to eat some steak! Maybe some rump roast? Or some round? Yummy.

 

Did the vegetarian thing for 2 years. It did not improve my life in any significant way. But it wasn't the worst thing, either.

Then I broke up with my Deadhead girlfriend and dated an italian. I rediscovered the joys of veal and real italian sausage.
I married the italian.

But if I had started dating that lettuce gal, who knows how many falefel and tahini pitas I would be eating each week?

Along with a lot of lettuce....

 

I guess nothing will make me a vegetarian.

 

Holy ****, 19 people got sick?

How many were killed by falling pianos last year...?

 

Twenty-three. Luckily, they were all cartoons.

 

yeah..i saw some footage involving Yosemite Sam that turned my stomach...ouch!

 

If you REALLY want to become a vegetarian, read this book

 

Isn't this where Oprah comes out and dicks on Colorado?

 

Yeah, and then they sue her for giving them bad PR.

 

hehe... I was just thinking that there's some fine meat under that lettuce, so they're not helping their cause.

 

And if you want to remain a meat-eater, read this book

In particular, the chapters on the parastitic creatures living in vegetarians' vs. non-vegetarians' digestive tracts.

 

Yeah, Anthony Bourdain has some deep-seated issues with vegetarians for whatever reason. A couple of his quotes:

When asked what he thought of vegetarians he said they are "the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food."

When asked why he doesn't like vegetarians he replied, "Because most don't appreciate food. And someone who doesn't appreciate food doesn't appreciate art, music or sex."

Riiight....

 

But:

Did you like the book?

Did you find the story about the intestinal parasites to be interesting?

 

From a meat eater perspective,

If all humans became vegans,
cattle would drift towards extinction (possibly saved by India if India survives Pakistan),(-)
food would taste bland, (-)
gas prices would become lower, (+)
population would increase causing problems(-)
the environment would be changed by more protein crops needed(-)
no more good cookies as eggs are taken out of the picture(-)
Beer prices probably go down (+)

 

Mateo - I have not read the book. I wasn't interested in it to begin with. After I heard Mr. Bourdain's comments I was especially NOT interested in it.

Joe Joe - Huh? You may want to re-examine some of your arguments.

Anyway, I don't care if people eat meat or don't eat meat. I've never attempted to push vegetarianism on anyone (my husband was a meat-eater for the first five years of our relationship.) But I have had plenty of meat-eaters chastise me for my decision, make jokes about how weird I am and even jokingly try to put meat on my plate. Not cool.

I'm not sure why, when vegetarians comprise less than 10% of the population, some meat-eaters seem so angered and threatened by it. I don't really care what other people eat, I would just like the same attitude in return.