Mechanically Tenderized Beef
Margaret Lamkin
will never forget the day she ordered a medium rare steak at an Applebee's
restaurant.
The 87-year-old Iowa woman was struck down a week later with acute diarrhea that wouldn't let up. But what happened next will be with her for the rest of her life.
The steak she ate was contaminated with E. coli 0157, something that destroyed her colon resulting in surgery and a colostomy bag.
It would be sad enough if that was a fluke or just bad luck.
But the kind of meat that Margaret ate -- called mechanically tenderized
-- is sold in stores and served in restaurants all over the country.
And it can make you just as sick as Margaret. It can even kill you.
But now there's a quick check that will let you know if meat has gone through this potentially contaminating process.
It will only take a second, but it could save your life, or that of someone you love.
The meat industry had hoped that mechanically tenderized beef would stay a deep, dark secret. Meat doesn't look any different, so unless you worked in the industry, there would be no way to know.
But too many people started getting sick to keep it hidden any longer. The CDC reports that there have been six major outbreaks because of this kind of beef, but a consumer interest group says that it's more like 100.
And experts say that for every "lab confirmed" case of E. coli, there are 26 more that aren't identified.
Mechanically tenderized beef undergoes a process that punctures raw meat with blades or needles to make it tenderer and to seem like a premium cut. But that can also take pathogens, like E.coli and push them deep into beef -- a location that typically doesn't harbor bacteria.
And unless you cook the heck out of that piece of meat, that bacteria will say alive and very capable of making you very sick.
Those needles can also pump into meat what's called "digestive juices," or what the industry would prefer you refer to as a marinade. That can make the cuts even more dangerous and prone to contamination.
Now, you wouldn't think that putting two little words (in small print, no less) identifying what meat has been processed this way on packaging would be such a big deal.
The beef industry, however, has been fighting it tooth and nail. It's taken years to even decide what those words would be!
And you'll only get that two-word warning when you're buying meat in the supermarket. Restaurants aren't required to say a word about it.
But despite all the protests, the USDA went ahead and finally ruled that mechanically tenderized meat must be labeled. And not only that, but it moved up the deadline a full two years from 2018 to right now.
Will wonders never cease?
Costco, however, started voluntarily labeling its meat four years ago after a big E.coli outbreak. So obviously it could have been done nationwide a whole lot sooner.
Look, it's not what I would call the best warning in the world, but it will at least tip us off about what to avoid.
So here's what to watch out for on a raw meat label:
The 87-year-old Iowa woman was struck down a week later with acute diarrhea that wouldn't let up. But what happened next will be with her for the rest of her life.
The steak she ate was contaminated with E. coli 0157, something that destroyed her colon resulting in surgery and a colostomy bag.
It would be sad enough if that was a fluke or just bad luck.
But the kind of meat that Margaret ate -- called mechanically tenderized
-- is sold in stores and served in restaurants all over the country.
And it can make you just as sick as Margaret. It can even kill you.
But now there's a quick check that will let you know if meat has gone through this potentially contaminating process.
It will only take a second, but it could save your life, or that of someone you love.
The meat industry had hoped that mechanically tenderized beef would stay a deep, dark secret. Meat doesn't look any different, so unless you worked in the industry, there would be no way to know.
But too many people started getting sick to keep it hidden any longer. The CDC reports that there have been six major outbreaks because of this kind of beef, but a consumer interest group says that it's more like 100.
And experts say that for every "lab confirmed" case of E. coli, there are 26 more that aren't identified.
Mechanically tenderized beef undergoes a process that punctures raw meat with blades or needles to make it tenderer and to seem like a premium cut. But that can also take pathogens, like E.coli and push them deep into beef -- a location that typically doesn't harbor bacteria.
And unless you cook the heck out of that piece of meat, that bacteria will say alive and very capable of making you very sick.
Those needles can also pump into meat what's called "digestive juices," or what the industry would prefer you refer to as a marinade. That can make the cuts even more dangerous and prone to contamination.
Now, you wouldn't think that putting two little words (in small print, no less) identifying what meat has been processed this way on packaging would be such a big deal.
The beef industry, however, has been fighting it tooth and nail. It's taken years to even decide what those words would be!
And you'll only get that two-word warning when you're buying meat in the supermarket. Restaurants aren't required to say a word about it.
But despite all the protests, the USDA went ahead and finally ruled that mechanically tenderized meat must be labeled. And not only that, but it moved up the deadline a full two years from 2018 to right now.
Will wonders never cease?
Costco, however, started voluntarily labeling its meat four years ago after a big E.coli outbreak. So obviously it could have been done nationwide a whole lot sooner.
Look, it's not what I would call the best warning in the world, but it will at least tip us off about what to avoid.
So here's what to watch out for on a raw meat label:
- · Mechanically tenderized
- Needle tenderized
- Blade tenderized
And when eating out, it's a crapshoot. So if you're going to order meat in a restaurant, the safest thing to do is to make sure that it's thoroughly cooked.
Sunlight
and Drugs
This
latest warning on sun safety will shock you...
My
jaw dropped when I read the latest details from Consumer
Reports. More than 20
different drugs increase your chances of reacting badly to sunlight. The
chemicals make your skin more photosensitive. You can wind up with quick-onset
sunburn, rashes, or even a full-blown allergic reaction.
Here
are some of them: Aleve, ibuprofen, Lasix, Grifulvin V, Cordarone, Quindex,
Cipro, Bactrim, Sulfatrim, Aczone, tetracycline... and more.
Worse,
other drugs – like the popular allergy drug Benadryl – make you more
susceptible to heat. That
means you can't regulate your body temperature as well and are more likely to
suffer heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
Always
check your medications before heading out in the sun for extended periods of
time. You can find a full list of medications that cause photosensitivity at
the Skin Cancer Foundation, right here. Make sure
to drink plenty of fluids and don't overexert yourself in the heat. And you may
want to avoid the strongest sunlight between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Vaccine
Experiment
By
Jenny Thompson at HSI
It looks like they might have to start calling Missouri "The Don't Show-Me State" -- at least as far as vaccines are concerned.
For years I've been telling you that the more people know about the risks of vaccines, the less likely they are to agree to them.
But a group of University of Missouri researchers set out to prove me wrong.
They bet that they could educate people about all the side effects of vaccines, and they'd line up for the jabs anyway.
What happened may be the greatest backfire in research history. And it's leading to some very dangerous recommendations that could put you and the people you love in harm's way.
It's bad enough that the mainstream regularly tries to force us into getting vaccines without breathing a word about the dangers.
And after this latest study, don't expect that to get any better.
You see, researchers from the University of Missouri got a crazy idea in their heads. They figured that even if they took the time to inform patients about the potential risks and reactions of vaccines, those folks would still get the shots.
They thought it would build trust. Want to guess how that went?
For their study, researchers gave more than 1,000 people access to data from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) on the HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix.
That's right -- the same vaccines I've been warning you about for years that have left hundreds of kids in constant pain, paralyzed, and even dead.
And once people saw these horror stories in black and white, they weren't rolling up their sleeves -- they were running for the hills!
The patients in the study were actually significantly less likely to agree to vaccines after seeing the VAERS reports.
These researchers said they were sure that the VAERS data would "make participants feel more assured that vaccines are safe." What they discovered, however, "was the opposite."
No kidding. There's a reason the mainstream has been trying to keep this information from us for years.
Now you'd think a study like this would be a wake-up call. You'd hope the mainstream would finally realize that we all take these vaccine risks a lot more seriously than they realized.
Yeah, not exactly.
Instead, the researchers concluded that the media needs to be careful about how it covers vaccine stories. Because the more we learn, the less likely we'll be to get vaccines.
That's right -- they want to make sure you and everyone you know is kept in the dark even more than before. How do these people look themselves in the mirror?
The good news is that you don't have to rely on the media or the mainstream for information on the dangers and side effects of vaccines.
You can access the VAERS website yourself right here.
Doing a little digging will help you make the best (and most informed) decision about which shots are right for you and the people you care about.
It looks like they might have to start calling Missouri "The Don't Show-Me State" -- at least as far as vaccines are concerned.
For years I've been telling you that the more people know about the risks of vaccines, the less likely they are to agree to them.
But a group of University of Missouri researchers set out to prove me wrong.
They bet that they could educate people about all the side effects of vaccines, and they'd line up for the jabs anyway.
What happened may be the greatest backfire in research history. And it's leading to some very dangerous recommendations that could put you and the people you love in harm's way.
It's bad enough that the mainstream regularly tries to force us into getting vaccines without breathing a word about the dangers.
And after this latest study, don't expect that to get any better.
You see, researchers from the University of Missouri got a crazy idea in their heads. They figured that even if they took the time to inform patients about the potential risks and reactions of vaccines, those folks would still get the shots.
They thought it would build trust. Want to guess how that went?
For their study, researchers gave more than 1,000 people access to data from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) on the HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix.
That's right -- the same vaccines I've been warning you about for years that have left hundreds of kids in constant pain, paralyzed, and even dead.
And once people saw these horror stories in black and white, they weren't rolling up their sleeves -- they were running for the hills!
The patients in the study were actually significantly less likely to agree to vaccines after seeing the VAERS reports.
These researchers said they were sure that the VAERS data would "make participants feel more assured that vaccines are safe." What they discovered, however, "was the opposite."
No kidding. There's a reason the mainstream has been trying to keep this information from us for years.
Now you'd think a study like this would be a wake-up call. You'd hope the mainstream would finally realize that we all take these vaccine risks a lot more seriously than they realized.
Yeah, not exactly.
Instead, the researchers concluded that the media needs to be careful about how it covers vaccine stories. Because the more we learn, the less likely we'll be to get vaccines.
That's right -- they want to make sure you and everyone you know is kept in the dark even more than before. How do these people look themselves in the mirror?
The good news is that you don't have to rely on the media or the mainstream for information on the dangers and side effects of vaccines.
You can access the VAERS website yourself right here.
Doing a little digging will help you make the best (and most informed) decision about which shots are right for you and the people you care about.
Meet the cure for the common cold
Someone at the FTC needs to be fired, and stat.
Heck, maybe EVERYONE at the agency should be handed pink slips and we can start over with a new team of folks who actually care about consumers instead of protecting big corporate interests. God knows, the clowns in there now sure don't.
Just a couple years back, the agency came down like a sack of bricks on the makers of zinc-based cold remedies, handing out fines and trying to put those little companies out of business.
Today, a new study PROVES beyond all doubt that those remedies not only work, but work so well we can finally say...
There IS a cure for the common cold!
Zinc not only helps you feel better faster, it works in just about everyone -- across age groups, racial barriers, and gender lines (however many genders they think we have these days).
Overall, zinc lozenges will shave nearly THREE DAYS off the average cold, according to the study.
If that's not a cure, I don't know what is.
Yet you can bet those companies that were fined won't get their money back.. and they're not going to get an apology letter from the FTC.
So forget the feds and go with the science -- because the science says zinc works best if you take it at the first sign of sniffles and keep taking the stuff until you're feeling better.
There is a trick to using zinc -- and it's an important one.
You can't just take a little bit and consider yourself covered... and you can't just gobble a high-dose supplement, either, since a little too much zinc can lead to embarrassing gas and a desperate dash for the toilet.
So here's the key: Take low doses repeatedly throughout the day. That's why zinc lozenges are so effective -- because they deliver the zinc slowly, as they melt, a little at a time.
The new study says you should aim for the century mark, 100 mg per day, but you may not even have to go that far -- because other studies have found you can cut down your cold with just 75 mg per day.
And for the BEST protection, make sure you're getting enough fish oil and vitamins C and D -- powerful immune-boosters that can slash your risk of getting the cold or even the flu in the first place.
Someone at the FTC needs to be fired, and stat.
Heck, maybe EVERYONE at the agency should be handed pink slips and we can start over with a new team of folks who actually care about consumers instead of protecting big corporate interests. God knows, the clowns in there now sure don't.
Just a couple years back, the agency came down like a sack of bricks on the makers of zinc-based cold remedies, handing out fines and trying to put those little companies out of business.
Today, a new study PROVES beyond all doubt that those remedies not only work, but work so well we can finally say...
There IS a cure for the common cold!
Zinc not only helps you feel better faster, it works in just about everyone -- across age groups, racial barriers, and gender lines (however many genders they think we have these days).
Overall, zinc lozenges will shave nearly THREE DAYS off the average cold, according to the study.
If that's not a cure, I don't know what is.
Yet you can bet those companies that were fined won't get their money back.. and they're not going to get an apology letter from the FTC.
So forget the feds and go with the science -- because the science says zinc works best if you take it at the first sign of sniffles and keep taking the stuff until you're feeling better.
There is a trick to using zinc -- and it's an important one.
You can't just take a little bit and consider yourself covered... and you can't just gobble a high-dose supplement, either, since a little too much zinc can lead to embarrassing gas and a desperate dash for the toilet.
So here's the key: Take low doses repeatedly throughout the day. That's why zinc lozenges are so effective -- because they deliver the zinc slowly, as they melt, a little at a time.
The new study says you should aim for the century mark, 100 mg per day, but you may not even have to go that far -- because other studies have found you can cut down your cold with just 75 mg per day.
And for the BEST protection, make sure you're getting enough fish oil and vitamins C and D -- powerful immune-boosters that can slash your risk of getting the cold or even the flu in the first place.
My Comment:
As with most vitamins, the “Whole Food” versions are far more
effective than the typical synthetic ones made in a laboratory. Always look for
the “made from Whole Food” designation on any vitamins you buy.
Until next time, stay healthy and happy
JD Roma
The information on this blog is
provided for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional
medical care, and medical advice and services are not being offered. If you
have, or suspect you have, a health problem you should consult your physician
(preferably a Naturopath).
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