Beef

Slovakia slaps emergency checks on Polish beef

Bratislava (AFP) - Slovakia on Friday decided to slap checks on beef imports from Poland after veterinarians in the neighbouring Czech Republic found the dangerous salmonella bacteria in a batch of Polish meat.

Every Polish beef consignment will now have to pass lab tests before hitting the Slovak market.

"I won't allow the failures of Polish authorities to repeatedly endanger our consumers," Slovak Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matecna said in a statement.

"The state food and veterinary administration will therefore check all consignments of Polish meat until further notice."

Matecna ordered the chief veterinarian to implement the emergency measures days after Czech veterinarians found salmonella, which can cause food poisoning, in a 700-kilogramme (1,500-pound) batch of Polish beef.

Prague said the meat imported on February 13 had been distributed to five places in the Czech Republic and one in Slovakia.

Czech authorities said all the meat had been traced down, with some already consumed at a restaurant, a hospital and two schools after cooking, which reduces the likelihood of an infection.

Earlier this week Prague ordered lab tests on all Polish beef.

Polish Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski floated the possibility of checking Czech beer in retaliation.

"We can also check whether the temperature is always right, the expiration date, the malt and alcohol content," he told reporters.

"I don't want to go tit for tat, but if we're going to be blackmailed, then we have no choice."

The case comes on the heels of a scandal in January which saw Poland export a total of 2.7 tonnes of suspect beef to around a dozen fellow EU members, triggering a probe.

The scandal erupted when the TVN24 commercial news channel aired footage of apparently sick or lame cows being butchered at a small slaughterhouse in northeast Poland, in secret late at night when veterinary authorities were unlikely to visit.

Poland is a leading producer and exporter of meat in Europe, turning out around 600,000 tonnes of beef per year and exporting most of it to the EU, according to meat producer associations.

Up to Czechs to act against risk of infected Polish beef imports: Commission

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Czech Republic is free to take the necessary steps against the risk of imports of Polish beef that could be infected with salmonella, but the measures have to be proportionate to the risk, the European Commission said on Friday.

Czech authorities informed the Commission this week that they found salmonella in beef coming from Poland, Commission spokeswoman Anca Paduraru told a regular news briefing, adding the Commission was in contact with Warsaw about the issue.

“EU legislation foresees that member states can take measures on food that might present a health risk on case-by-case basis,” Paduraru said, adding the measures should be proportionate to the risk identified.

It is for the Czech Republic to take necessary measures according to their own assessment,” she said.

Asked if infected Polish beef has been discovered also in other EU countries, Paduraru said small quantities have been found in Slovakia.

Poland produces about 560,000 tonnes of beef a year, with 85 percent exported to countries including Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Reporting By Jan Strupczewski

Can hamburgers survive the Green New Deal? The facts behind Trump and Ocasio-Cortez’s latest beef

There’s been an awful lot of talk about cow farts and the Green New Deal, despite the fact that the resolution for a Green New Deal never mentions the word cow, nor fart (more’s the pity). It was President Donald Trump who made that connection.

The resolution’s co-sponsor, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, recently clarified the point on Showtime’s Desus & Mero show: “It’s not to say you get rid of agriculture. It’s not to say we’re gonna force everybody to go vegan or anything crazy like that,” she said. “But it’s to say, ‘Listen, we gotta address factory farming. Maybe we shouldn’t be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

Politically, it makes sense to tell people that they can keep something popular, like eating (just a little less) beef, while promising to crack down on something unpopular like factory farms. But if you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s a bit backwards. Get rid of factory farms, and we’d have to cut way, way back on the hamburgers.

As you can see in the graph below, the biggest climate problem with beef isn’t farting cows, it’s the space that grass-fed beef takes up.

World Resources Institute

Because feedlots, or “factory farming,” minimizes land use and shortens the time cattle need to grow to full size, feedlot beef often has a lower greenhouse gas footprint than pasture-raised variety. There are exceptions: A few studies have shown that, with the right management and conditions, pastures can suck up more carbon than the cattle belch out (yes, it’s mostly belching, not farting).

To be sure, there are other thorny issues surrounding cattle on feedlots, but none of them are clear cut. Whether you are talking about the environment, health, or animal welfare, it’s all complicated. One way or another, those champion carnivores known as Americans are going to have to eat a lot less beef if we want to reverse climate change.

It’s no surprise that Trump tweeted that the Green New Deal would “permanently eliminate” cows, and no surprise that Ocasio-Cortez attempted to deflect the criticism to factory farms. It’s the perfect provocation. Food isn’t just fuel, it’s the stuff of sensory memories, families gathering around the table. It’s a tool by which culture is transmitted through generations. Mess with someone’s food traditions and you are messing with their identity.

As the Chinese writer Lin Yutang asked: “What is patriotism but the love of food one ate as a child?”