Remember this?
A video circulating widely on social media Sunday appears to show President Donald Trump announcing that the United States will buy Argentine beef while dismissing concerns about struggling American farmers.
He had a plan. Meat prices were climbing fast, so he thought he’d pander to consumers (but not beef producers) by importing 15 tons of cheap Argentine beef. And he did, and he distributed it to his most devoted followers in Florida and Texas.
How’s that going?
Nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef have been recalled at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) highest warning level due to an import violation.
Corte Argentino USA LLC, a Florida-based beef company, recalled approximately 29,628 pounds of raw beef imported to the U.S. from Argentina without reinspection, according to an announcement from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on Aug. 7.
The agency classified the recall as Class I, meaning that it’s a “high or medium risk” recall entailing “a health hazard situation” with “a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death,” per the FSIS.
As a vegetarian living in a state that hates Donald Trump and will never receive his toxic largesse, I can laugh. While eating my cyclospora-infested produce.
We can’t win.
Trump’s history for making Americans sick and causing them to die continues. He keeps finding new ways.
I wonder how ubercarnivore Max German will cope. Despite its evil phytate content I eat rolled oats and add berries. I was getting a Publix brand of frozen blueberries, but then there was a recall. Ugghh. I now get a branded version of mixed berries and the blueberries are the size of BBs. Ughhh!
The only beef I eat is an occasional double burger cheat meal sans fries. And jerky or biltong as a snack.
If I were in Argentina though I would feel obligated to eat at a steakhouse. Argentina is known for steak I think.
The current recall though makes me think things similar to what landed Oprah in court due to food disparagement laws.
I had to find out about this after I bought a bag of frozen country fried steaks. Look like I’ll be going back to chicken for a bit.
So, how are the meat substitutes doing these days? Been a while since I’ve heard about them.
@3 Recursive Rabbit
Reminds me that I have a bag of frozen pre-cooked meatballs. So I add that to my beef consumption list. I had two servings already and am still here typing so that bag should be safe.
Not sure what you should do about the country fried steaks. Now I’m craving sausage gravy dammit. Been a while!
Impossible meat is pretty good, in that it is indistinguishable for ground meat. Boca also tastes good, but will never be mistaken for the real thing.
We have one of the meat alternatives maybe once a week, but tofu and saitan have been great substitutes for a long time.
I’ll give some Impossible meat a try, then.
Remember a picture someone took of a KFC sign advertising Impossible Chicken being added to the menu, probably as a local market trial, with the Twitter poster lamenting that “Communism has come to America.”
If you really want beef, get to know a local rancher and buy direct. Grew up on a farm that sold beef in quarters (of an animal). Thus, you are only exposed to that one animal. Visit the farm and see how the animals are treated. Access to pasture and hay without obvious overcrowding are good signs and generally lead to better flavor and safer food.
P.S. I no longer eat beef or other mammals for environmental and health reasons.
I just saw some Short on this, pointing out that there are many types of beef and the import was of a quality that US farmers couldn’t/wouldn’t supply for some reason. And that Obama did something similar? Can’t remember or care enough to find the source.
I read an article yesterday, on allhat I think, that china rejected 20tons of argentine beef because it contained a banned pesticide. Of course the magat-in-chief will push this to kill us because he wants to make sure the argentine puppet he installed will remain loyal. Maybe it will finally kill that brain worm.
I’m not a vegetarian, but I really like Impossible and Beyond products because they taste at least as good as the real thing but are more consistent and easier to cook.
You’re setting them up for disappointment.
Indistinguishable from a breakfast sausage, maybe. They still have some work to do to make it indistinguishable from ground beef.
Surely it’s good shit; here is the list of ingredients:
(https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-au/articles/360018937494-What-are-the-ingredients-in-Impossible-Beef-Made-From-Plants)
The epitome of a highly-processed food.
Using the NOVA food classification system it’s ‘Category 4: Ultra-Processed Food (UPF)’.
So, John, wow, that’s quite a list of ‘the good the bad and the ugly’. But, I’ve seen a few worse lists of ingredients. Of course, I remember when they used to sell scrapple in the grocery stores.
That makes me wonder; all the people living on nothing but junk food (the hostess twinkie crowd), does that mean they are already so loaded with preservatives they will never die? Or does it mean that when they finally go the undertaker won’t have to embalm them?
shermanj, indeed.
Still, aside from health reasons, the basis is that the entire chain for each of those processed ingredients is based on fossil fuel inputs, certainly not less than raising cattle. Sure, there are industrial steps to generating ground beef and the trophic level means around 1:10 plant advantage, but each of those listed ingredients is processed. The fuel for the sowers and the harversters and the fertilising and the water pumping and so forth is fossil fuel (there is a current event in the Strait of Hormuz, BTW). Right? Then the crops are processed and the fermentations done and the other processing with those ingredients.
A much larger supply chain run on petrochemicals, hitherto.
I know the blurb from the companies all say otherwise, but they presume those ingredients just magically appear at the factory door.
They sure are food, but… well, not much fibre there, is there? Just for example.
(Beans, now… well, plenty of fibre there. Your colon likes it)
[Related, Canada perspective (North America, but not America)]
Aaaand the animal feed for ruminants of course do not at all contain any of the ingredients you claim are driving up the carbon footprint of the impossible “beef” patties. Just take a look at the approved ingredient list for (Canadian) livestock
https://inspection.canada.ca/en/animal-health/livestock-feeds/documents-incorporated-reference/canadian-feed-ingredients-table
And those of course do magically appear at the factory door of the feed producers. And also too most of the meat is produced by free range grazing cattle….yeah, right. Blablabla
John Morales @12
I use soy milk which would possibly be considered ultraprocessed. It’s not a donut or Twinkie.
As for Impossible I have never had one. To each their own. I don’t know that highly processed always means bad from a health standpoint.
On the ingredients list for Impossibles soy protein is second highest. A seed oil next which some people villainize. Probably didn’t sit in a deep fry vat all day do I’m good. Coconut oil is a little sus because the saturation. Not much for sugars, added or otherwise. That’s one thing I look for. Pretty good on fiber which is better than actual beef from that standpoint. Sodium is like 16% of recommended. There’s worse out there. Protein is 19g. Not shabby.
The genetically modified soy leghemoglobin is the component that sells it to your tongue as beef. I’m not reflexively against GMOs.
Bunch of added vitamins. Has some calcium and iron.
Not a pastry. So that’s good. Not loaded with sugar. Has a bit of fat, 30% of recommendations for saturated. Coconut oil is probably doing heavy lifting on that.
I’m no nutritionist. I do think ultraprocessed is a buzzword that needs deeper evaluation per product. I don’t know what overconsumption of these will do long term, but at least there is fiber and protein, though the latter has gotten bad press lately because a longevity study. Whoopty frickin doo.
Here’s the page with the nutrition label which may vary with specific products:
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018939274-What-are-the-nutrition-facts-for-Impossible-Beef-Meat-From-Plants?
What baffles me is that they give an “approximate” amount with a number to 5 significant figures. I have checked, and it isn’t one of those where an actual approximate value in proper units has been converted exactly to Freedom Units.
Apparently the USDA still inspects food. Even when it potentially makes their boss look bad.
It’s slim but I’d say this is a rare net W for the federal government.
shermanj
It’s still sold in grocery stores in these parts. It used to be one of my favorites but I haven’t bought it in a while. The pork Scrapple is the best.
Well, I guess the people in the USDA are now going to be replaced for recalling donald’s big beefy intervention.