12-27 IAN Beef & Press

 Unusually tough articles on the beef industry... the Idaho Statesman recently ran back to back articles that didn’t paint a very pretty picture of the beef industry. One article talked about mechanical tenderizers in beef processing plants where either blades or needles are used to penetrate meat repeatedly in an effort to tenderize certain cuts. The article contended that in so doing, certain strains of E. coli are introduced deep into the muscle tissue. Normally when beef and E. coli are paired together in the same sentence, it is a reference to hamburger. Beef cuts such as steak usually are not included in the discussion because steaks are not as readily exposed to E. coli in a packing plant. Irrespective of the science, the article is very unsettling. The following day, the Statesman runs a front page article talking about hormones and antibiotics that are regularly fed to beef cattle. That article maintains that unwanted hormones and antibiotics are entering the food supply and making their way into the environment and into our bodies. All of this negative press led me to wonder if somebody at the Statesman has a beef with beef.  I called up Jesse Thompson from Idaho Cattle Association and while she didn’t know all of the specifics, she did have an interesting take on these articles. 1st off, the articles did not come from Idaho. “ The articles came out of Kansas. Is that correct? Yes that is correct. The publishing company that owns the Statesman also owns the newspaper in Kansas City and that’s where those articles came from.