Downer Cattle - Why I never feed BEEF or BEEF By-Products

The US Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of beef today, the largest meat recall in history.  It represents the entire production of Westland Meat for the last two years.  The reason?  Too many incidents where Westland and their partner, Hallmark Meat Packing, permitted downer cattle to enter the human food supply. 

See the entire story in the Washingon Post.

Well, never mind that this cements my decision five years ago to become a vegetarian.  Cruelty alone got my attention.  The health benefits did not surface until later.  Folks, the video depicting terrible cruelty that surfaced three weeks ago is generally perceived as being more the rule than the exception.

The question for those us interested in top nutrition for our dogs and cats is this:  Just exactly who was going to eat that downer cattle if it was condemned from the human food supply???

 That’s right.  Holistic pet nutritionists have long warned of that commercially-produced pet foods contain The Four D’s — Dead, Dying, Diseased, Disabled.   There is a very watchable movie that explains what is really in commercial pet food on the HealthyPetNet website:  http://www.holisticpetmenu.com  Don’t worry, it’s not a shocking undercover expose.  It’s just an education about what has traditionally gone into pet foods.

THIS news story confirms that the Four D’s DO exist, that they CANNOT go into the human food supply, and that they DO go somewhere. 

Long ago, I learned not to feed BEEF pet food to my kitties.  Unless you’re feeding expensive raw, organic beef, it’s just too costly to feed human-quality beef to our pets.  Chicken, turkey, yes, it’s possible.  But not beef.  So think about it, what quality of beef goes into the pet’s food supply?  To feed and shelter a cow or a steer for two years costs a lot.  If it’s affordable enough to go into pet food, it’s not in human-food-supply condition.

I have a book on my shelf right now:  Mad Cowboy by Howard F. Lyman.  “Plain truth from the cattle rancher who won’t eat meat”.  He makes a strong case for humans not eating meat… ranging from the overuse of antibiotics to exposure to pesticides and fertilizers.  He doesn’t say much about pets but after reading his book, I knew my cats would never eat beef again.

The Washington Post article notes that downer cattle not only may be diseased, but their flesh is more prone to e-coli and other types of food-borne illness.

I won’t beat this issue to death.  Rather than dredging up all kinds of links and articles, I’ll just ask you to think about it.  The USDA saw a big enough problem to virtually bankrupt a company, to pull all remaining frozen beef from the last two years out of the human food supply. 

Do you really want that type of meat in your pet’s food supply?

Teresa Holladay
The Holistic Pet Food Blog
http://holisticpetfood.wordpress.com