Banned US beef sitting on docks

[cliss]

Jan. 1, 2004
From the Oregonian Business Section:
http://www.oregonlive..com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1072962088123070.xml

As many as 2,000 railcar containers are filled with beef worth $200 million are now sitting in the Ports of Portland and Seattle. Customs officials are not sure what to do with them since they were banned from Japan and 29 other countries.

<snip>
"We have an immediate problem that must be fixed", said the group's president, Philip Seng, said Wednesday. "These containers of highly perishable product are being held hostage on the high seas because our trading partners closed their borders."

The containers are refrigerated, keeping the beef either fresh-chilled or frozen. The cold temperatures eliminate the threat of immediate spoilage, but a prolonged ban could mean the loss of tons of meat and millions of dollars, said Lynne Heinze, a spokesman for the export federation.

"The clock is ticking," he said.

In an unexpected spinoff from the mad cow scare, $500,000 worth of frozen french fries, which were prefried in beef tallow, also are being held in limbo at Northwest and Asian ports.

More than 30 nations have imposed bans on U.S. beef imports since the discovery Dec. 23 of a single Holstein dairy cow in Washington infected with Mad Cow disease, according to AP. All told, the bans wipe out almost 90 percent of a $3 billion a year export trade.

<snip>

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. There goes the economy

this is a field report from where I live, two supermarkets they
could not give it away even if they tried.

Chicken though was selliing briskly

[NYC]

2. I have a feeling

they'll be putting this meat in U.S. supermarkets.

[The Zanti Regent]

12. Is Mc Donald's gonna put this in Big Macs?

Hmmmm Mickey Dee's gonna have those 50¢ Big Mac Specials again?

[Q3JR4]

24. That's probably correct,

at a reduced rate. Then again, does that mean that the U.S. consumer will buy it?

It all depends on how the *ites spin it.

[MercutioATC]

3. I have $150 in my pocket.I'll take one of those containers off their hands

The one filled with prime Delmonicos, please...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. Feed the homeless with them

You assholes in the cattle and livestock industry bought the policy that fucked yourselves by not voluntarily removing downed cows from the food source...why not contribute the beef if you know it is safe and might go to waste?

[daleo]

5. There must be some chickens or pigs

Who are looking forward to a nice steak.

[vanityfair]

6. Free Steaks and Hamburger!

At least cheap! In the summer, stores were selling off their meat for very low prices.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I ain't touching it

still

[raysr]

8. It's ironic

that the people who lobbied for no regs are the one's getting screwed! (So long as nobody get's sick that is)

[aquart]

13. Irony? Or karma?

Or God's sincerely peculiar sense of humor?

[DemoTex]

22. Ironic or Shakespearean?

"Hoist by their own petards."

[Bandit]

23. Long time no see ~ Welcome back

Happy New Year and I hope it is the best one ever for you. :-)

[cliss]

9. I wouldn't go for it, either.

Out of curiousity, I checked out a couple of grocery stores here in Portland. There were a lot of shoppers out stocking up on groceries, but I couldn't help but notice there were no people in the meat department.

My son told me that his friend who is a checker for a local Thriftway store says they've hardly sold any meat in about a week.

I believe this crisis is much worse than they're letting on. Meat is a highly perishable item. Yahoo news would have you believe the meat industry is hardly affected (latest article: "meat scare has few turning vegetarian").

In their dreams.

Even if they gave it away for free, I'd hesitate.

Hi, Vanity Fair!!! :smoke: Welcome to the DU, home of the brave and the outspoken!

[Robin Hood]

11. I was in the Tigard Costco yesterday.

And there was no one looking at the meat counter, no one.. I checked out peoples carts in line and if they had meat in there it was chicken or pork.

I may have eaten infected meat as I had spaghetti and meatballs the day before this news broke and my hamburger package matches that of the recall. I am thinking of getting a lawyer.

We have truned vegetarian since this has broken out. We have educated our selves to how meat is raised and we will never eat it again. http://www.hsus.org/ace/11505

I do think that they are under playing this crisis and the local news is busy interviewing people who said that this does not affect them or their behaviour.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. You noticed this too

Our local news was even showing people COOKING meat on the barbie

I had to laugh, it reminded me of England in 1985

[twilight]

21. hey, I saw that too!

and also noticed many advertisements on the travel channel showing people eating HUGE steaks, etc.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I cannot swallow beef anymore due to a progressive disease that affects my swallowing. I was so bummed out about it and basically forced into vegetarianism about a year ago. Now, I don't feel so bummed out!

I noticed no one buying ANY beef in Safeway the other day - not even one package of it.

This is one fine mess you've gotten us into *!

:dem: :kick:

[lazarus]

17. FYI

You have eaten infected meat. Our entire meat supply has been infected for years and years and years. Don't kid yourself that it just now is happening.

We test barely .05% of the cattle that is processed. That's it.

The only reason nobody in the US hasn't gotten the mad cow stuff is that it's damned hard to catch, you have to actually eat connective tissue or organ meat or something like that. I'm actually concerned about my health, as I'm fond of unusual cuts like heart and tongue, just as in Europe. But a good steak is still a safe cut of meat, especially if you get it from a supplier that feeds their cows grain and not other cows.

That's the key. Just get good local beef that eats natural food, and you're fine. Don't buy ground beef. Get your cuts from a local butcher.

But turning vegetarian now is just burning down the barn after the horse got out.

[Robin Hood]

18. I don't trust the food supply anymore.

That and the brutal facts of animal farming is what has turned my family off of eating meat. Please check out this site http://www.hsus.org/ace/11505

Furthermore, How can one be sure that the local farmer isn't using tainted feed?

[lazarus]

20. OTOH

How can one be sure one's vegetables aren't tainted, either?

One can trust elements of the food supply, taking reasonable precautions, become self-sufficient, or become a breatharian. Those are the options.

[velocity]

26. that right 500+ got Hep-A from Onions

;(

[Scurrilous]

10. The beef producers....

...will probably end up freezing all that beef and warehousing it somewhere. Once frozen, the meat can be stored indefinitely. Or at least until it can be dumped on the domestic market.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

15. The would rather toss it

away than give it away. If they gave it away it would lower beef prices even more. They did give away alot to soup kitchens and food centres in Canada. Street people were eating top cuts of beef all summer.
As another Canadian poster pointed out, you can expect to find alot of cheap beef for a while. And yes, all the burger joints will have burger sales like crazy. Here in Canada, there was a report about a week ago about how much extra beef Canadians ate when the USA shut the border on us. Something like 60 lbs each more than normal. I guess thats why Canadians are looking a little pudgy lately, LoL

[ConcernedCanuk]

16. I believe that the USA's beef industry will suffer more than Canada's

.
.
. First of all, Canada's "mad cow" didn't make it to market

. And secondly, and probably more long lasting is that the USA has cultivated mass world distrust of it's "claims".

Add to that the well fertilized growing dislike of the USA's foreign policies at the hands of King George, many nations, in my opinion, will "use" this "mad cow" thing to eliminate the USA as a trading partner. Bombs and Bribes won't "fix" everything.

No, I don't believe I am being self-righteous, or have a misplaced sense of "patriotism".

I think alot of Americans distrust their own government, and with good reason. Salvation will only begin with the deposing of Junior and his gang of thugs.

Just A Humble Canuk Opinion

[bemildred]

19. This isn't doing a thing to help with the balance of

payments or tax-revenue deficits in the USA, either.

[SemperEadem]

25. the best thing that could happen to the beef industry

would be the shakedown that will come as a result of their negligent attitude towards what they allowed to be ground up and put into the food supply for humans to consume, even after the data from the UK was made known. They knew it and still put sick animals into the food supply.

It would be best for this event to drive some of them out of business and others to re-evaluate their business plans so that the strongest of competitors survives... that is the natural progression of capitalism, not propping up failing businesses just to save an industry... just like the airlines should have gone through a "survival of the fittest" shakedown 2 years ago and didn't because Bush handed out corporate welfare to falsely prop up their industry...

it's time for the market, itself, to decide who gets to trade in it, not those bringing product to market, as the current round of subsidies will encourage.

and btw--blood in every animal is generated in the bone marrow. The spine is made up of bone. Just because they yank the spine out before processing doesn't mean that the blood of that cow, manufactured by that spine, didn't carry mad cow to all parts of the animal before it was killed and its spine cut out... a simple anatomy lesson tells you that. Therefore, removing the spine and brains of infected animals after they are dead does nothing to eliminate the disease that has already circulated throughout and inbedded in the muscle and tissue while they were alive. Duh! How stupid do they think we all are?

[velocity]

27. Bush is putting even the COWS out of work

:evilgrin: I just had to say that. :)