Crazy Cows

Koreans have a propensity for mass action. Take the candle-lit vigils in protest of the government opening up the Korean market to US beef imports. Generally, candle-lit vigils are for when a public figure passes away or to raise awareness of a natural disaster (China earthquake perhaps?). I can understand why people would have these fears, irrational as they are. Mad Cow disease (BSE), or 'crazy cow' as they insist on calling it here, and it's human version, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, are spread when infected brain or spinal cord are ingested. This all began because farmers worked out they could save alot of money by feeding their cattle all the offal and other unsavoury bits and pieces they couldn't sell, despite the fat farming subsidies most Western governments shovel their way. The disease remains undetected as it has a fairly long incubation period. What many people do not understand is how the disease is spread;

"By eating infected brain or spinal cord"

It doesn't help the US case that pieces of spinal cord and some bone fragments were found in the last shipment of beef.

That being said, I did my own research as to why there is such a public outcry for letting US beef back on the market. Apparently, US beef is better as the cattle are grain-fed. I don't know about you, but grain-fed cattle are a human invention. In the US particularly, cattle are kept on a feed lot for the last two weeks and fed hormone-laced grain to fatten them up for slaughter. Conditions are so crowded that if a cow falls it can not get up. Up until two weeks ago, it was accepted practice to slaughter these 'downer' cows along with the others. Personally, I want nothing to do with a cow that has been lying dead in its own filth for two weeks. Besides, bovines don't eat grain in the wild.

I figured if you don't like US beef, be it because you object to US foreign policy or have moral and ethical issues with the treatment of animals, then you vote with your wallet. Simple enough right? WRONG! It seems Koreans do not trust their retailers. Sure, at a supermarket products are required to state their country of origin but when you go to a restaurant what assurances do you have that the advertised Aussie beef isn't actually US beef?

To end, here are some interesting facts about the beef industry;

1) Up until last month, Korea imported 70% of its beef from Australia. That is set to drop to 50% following the resumption of US beef imports.

2) Australia's biggest export market for beef is the USA. One wonders why an exporter of beef would import beef from a country with no record of BSE.

Food for thought, no doubt.

PS, The real mad cows