HOW YOU’RE EATING FOREIGN BEEF (without knowing it).

I ran across this four-minute YouTube video on imported beef carcasses from Brazil and Mexico which are then mixed with United States grown beef and the final product is legally sold as USDA certified beef. It's worth a quick look to see how 2 out of 4 of the largest beef processing companies in America are beating the system and producing USDA certified beef with Brazil and Mexico beef imports.

I'm not against fair trade but the thing that's irritating is being deceived at the marketplace, plus there's slim chance that the processor in Brazil or Mexico is being regulated the way they are in the US. Link to YouTube video is below

HOW YOU’RE EATING FOREIGN BEEF (without knowing it). Cattle Market 2022 | Ranching for Profit Cows - YouTube

 

Not us. All the beef and pork we eat is locally raised.

 

We buy from a local grower also.

 

The meaning of labels on beef is not as obvious as it might seem. Natural, for example, has nothing at all to do with the live animal or how it was raised.

I’m not sure what you mean by USDA certified. The USDA inspects meat to ensure it is wholesome, but the inspection label has nothing to do with the animal’s origin.

For a while there was a law requiring Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) of beef, but that law was repealed in 2015.

 

Fresh beef imports are a risk due to the chance of importing an animal disease. Foot and Mouth Disease being the biggest risk. I am opposed to imports from Brazil due to that risk.

The import ban from Brazil on the chart above is all about FMD control. They still have FMD in places, but are allowed to ship beef here from regions of their country where there is no known outbreak.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA FSIS) on February 25, 2020, announced that previously banned beef products from Brazil will now be approved for export to the U.S. Upon completion of an audit of Brazil’s inspection system for beef slaughter and further processing, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service determined that raw intact beef from Brazil is eligible for export to the U.S. from cattle slaughtered on and after February 21, 2020, the date that the Department lifted the suspension.

 

Yeah, you have to wonder what Congress had in mind.

 

Right, I don’t see “certified “. This is terrain where some words have very specific meaning, and I mistook you to be using “certified “ as one of them. A USDA stamp doesn’t equate to US-raised.

 

Somebody's pocket got (or is getting) lined out of it I'm sure.

 

One of the 4 larger beef packets (JBS) is Brazilian-owned. Yes, I expect they pay the politicians.

 

I’m not sure which plant you are thinking of. There are quite a few small plants around the countryside, but they are dwarfed by the big four.
The weather (drought) is tough on ranchers. Fertilizer etc only hits them indirectly (if beef gets too expensive for you to buy). Even fuel is a relatively small input cost (primarily through the cost of winter feed for the cow herd).

 

There is so much "import" farm labor anymore that even if you make sure you buy meat/milk that comes from known USA sources, it very well may not have been raised/processed by Americans anyways...unless it comes from somewhere very local that you know of personally.

 

Time passes! That sale to JBS was in 2007, and there was two owners between Monforts and JBS.

 

I’m not too keen on slicing things that way (American vs others). I prefer an owner who lives in the community, hiring labor that lives in the area. Even an owner living in the community is not guaranteed in agriculture these days.

 

Yeah I don't care where somebody is from, but I'd much prefer they be citizens, and here for the right reasons

 

The Saudis own land in the southwest that they use to grow animal feed for export on, which is the equivalent of exporting water. I expect some of that sort of thing will be reined in as things continue to dry up out there.

 

We raise our own. I always know why I’m eating