Almost half the meat and poultry sold in the US is likely to be contaminated by highly dangerous bacteria, according to research published this month (April 2011) in the scientific journal. - Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics are ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans. - Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Feeding cattle their natural diet of grass instead of grain greatly reduces the risk of disease transmission. Why? First, it keeps the overall bacteria count low. Second, it prevents the bacteria from becoming acid resistant. Acid-resistant bacteria are far more likely to survive the acidity of our normal digestive juices and cause disease. - Why Grass Fed Is Best
In December, 2003, tissues from a cow from a Washington State confinement dairy tested positive for BSE or mad cow disease. The cow contracted BSE by being fed meat and bone meal made from other cattle that were infected with BSE. This was common practice in the U.S. until 1997. - Eat Wild
The reason for the greater persistence of E. coli from grain-fed cattle, the researchers speculated, is that feeding grain to cattle makes their digestive tracts abnormally acidic. Over time, the E. coli in their systems become acclimated to this acid environment. When we ingest them, a high percentage will survive the acid shock of our digestive juices. By contrast, few E. coli from grass-fed cattle will survive because they have not become acid-resistant. - Russell, Diez-Gonzalez
Australians have discovered that raising cattle on pasture reduced their risk of carrying a bacteria called "campylobacter." Fifty-eight percent of the cattle raised in a feedlot carried the bacteria, but only two percent of those raised and finished on pasture. Campylobacter bacteria can cause fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, and muscle pain. Most cases are mild, but it can be life-threatening if other diseases such as cancer or liver disease are present. - Bailey, G. D., B. A. Vanselow
A report shown that about 70 percent of all antibiotics made in the United States now go to fattening up livestock. In the mid-1980s, 16 million pounds of antibiotics were used in livestock production. Twenty-five million pounds are being used today. - Union Of Concerned Scientists
On January 1, 2006, the European Union banned the feeding of all antibiotics and related drugs to livestock for growth promotion purposes. The sweeping new policy follows up a 1998 ban on the feeding of antibiotics that are valuable in human medicine to livestock for growth promotion. Now, no antibiotics can be used in European livestock for growth promotion purposes. - Union Of Concerned Scientists
Animals raised in factory farms are given diets designed to boost their productivity and lower costs. The main ingredients are genetically modified grain and soy that are kept at artificially low prices by government subsidies. To further cut costs, the feed may also contain “by-product feedstuff” such as municipal garbage, stale pastry, chicken feathers, and candy. Until 1997, U.S. cattle were also being fed meat that had been trimmed from other cattle, in effect turning herbivores into carnivores. This unnatural practice is believed to be the underlying cause of BSE or “mad cow disease.” - Eat Wild
Animal products labeled as “organic” were fed only organic feeds which did not contain slaughterhouse wastes, antibiotics, or genetically modified (GMO) grains. The animals were also given access to the outdoors and exercise. However, organic does not mean the animals were pastured. For example, much of our organic beef and milk comes from cows that did not graze on grass.
Organic Grass Fed Beef seems to be the way to get the cleanest most disease free meat.
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