Mad cow, hoof & mouth

Anyone thought about the effects this is having on our meat prices? What would happen if the USA cattle market contracted a similar disease? What will we do? The current meat prices are making things tough on us right now. My meat sellers are telling me it is not going to get better anytime soon, only worse in the near future. I suppose that creativity will be a huge selling point to future employers. Gee, see what you can do with a 1 oz portion of meat and be sure to satisfy the customers....How about the chicken and fish prices there on the rise as well with the demand of export going up. No beef in other country's will surley be a problem in big ways for all. Just some food for thought from Colorado.

By chefmann on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 12:32 pm: Edit

Cattle farmers are going to love this. Beef prices will skyrocket for european export, they will still be getting a subsidy from the gov. and they might actually be able to make a descent living for a change.
(Or more and more people will stop eating beef overall.) Hey, let,s become vegetable farmers!!!

By dustman on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 06:47 pm: Edit

You can be sure that all meat will be affected by this European chaos. Beef goes up people buy chicken or fish demand dictates chicken and fish go up. I love meat too much to become a vegetarian by choice, but I love many other things too much to pay $20 a LB for flank steak to. It would be interesting from a trend point of view if beef were to gain the "image" and price of foie gras or fine "00" caviar, and only be served at four star establishments although that is something I hope I never have to see.

By Chris on Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 09:56 pm: Edit

I just Finished an 8x20 freezer, No Sh$t. My boss said fill it. We went over last year's prime, tender, ny strip, and beef rib usage reports and went slightly heavier. One thing's for sure we'll have meat for the summer, but if a compressor goes we're screwed.

By Panini (Panini) on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 06:14 am: Edit

Chris,
I would certainly look into purchasing a generator. They are not that expensive, from what I've heard there is quite a surplus left over from the y2k scare.

By W.DeBord on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 07:17 am: Edit

As a average consumer I've slowed down my purchasing of beef. I've seen a couple of really scarie articles on dateline type shows and it left me really not wanting to eat beef at all. Add in mad cow disease & e.coli and I'm wondering if any beef is worth the risk (well done, isn't an option!).

Then we had those reports about the sheep on the East coast testing positive. So now I'm thinking I should worry about eating lamb (my favorite).


I'm not sure which is worse the real problems or the sensationalism I see on the T.V.?

Did any of you see the interview with the guys from the FDA (hope that's the right dept.) they talked about the real lack of control they have over the packing plants.

scarie.....AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By W.DeBord on Thursday, April 19, 2001 - 07:23 am: Edit

????I used to do ALOT of catering at the Meat Board (located on The Magnificent Mile in Chicago, not a low rent district) and I thought all those cattlemen were big time rich! They spent money like you wouldn't believe!????