ironymaiden (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ironymaiden) wrote2003-12-25 02:29 pm
ironymaiden) wrote2003-12-25 02:29 pm
eat your protein
so i talked to both big brothers today.
Doug is married and it was beautiful. Yay.
more importantly, i had a good talk with Bill about Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis. he explained to me about why animals get fed animal remains. when beef remainders (all those prion-rich things like brains & spinal cord that we're not supposed to eat) go to a rendering plant, the major product is not fertilizer, but "blood meal" and "meat & bone meal" which is sold by the ton as a feed additive. this is the most profitable use of those last cow bits. animal feed is based largely on corn, but this doesn't provide enough protein for the kind of muscle growth we need for meat. for example, hogs need 15% protein to grow well, and corn only supplies 12%. adding the animal meal also kicks in complete amino acids, unlike other protein sources like soy. so i said, but they're all ranches out here, why would they be feeding them at all? supposedly the process is that ranched beef come in for "finishing" just before they go to market and are fed a more nutritive higher protein feed for a brief time.
"but i thought that feeding animal products was banned several years ago? "
"there's a loophole in every one of those laws, kind of like how the PT Cruiser, which is a Neon with a different body, is considered a truck and brings down the average gas mileage for all the Daimler-Chrysler SUVs."
Doug is married and it was beautiful. Yay.
more importantly, i had a good talk with Bill about Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis. he explained to me about why animals get fed animal remains. when beef remainders (all those prion-rich things like brains & spinal cord that we're not supposed to eat) go to a rendering plant, the major product is not fertilizer, but "blood meal" and "meat & bone meal" which is sold by the ton as a feed additive. this is the most profitable use of those last cow bits. animal feed is based largely on corn, but this doesn't provide enough protein for the kind of muscle growth we need for meat. for example, hogs need 15% protein to grow well, and corn only supplies 12%. adding the animal meal also kicks in complete amino acids, unlike other protein sources like soy. so i said, but they're all ranches out here, why would they be feeding them at all? supposedly the process is that ranched beef come in for "finishing" just before they go to market and are fed a more nutritive higher protein feed for a brief time.
"but i thought that feeding animal products was banned several years ago? "
"there's a loophole in every one of those laws, kind of like how the PT Cruiser, which is a Neon with a different body, is considered a truck and brings down the average gas mileage for all the Daimler-Chrysler SUVs."