Recently, the issue of "the safety of meat in France" was discussed on the internet forum FLTEACH. The first letter you see below was the inquiry that started the discussion. What follows are responses.
At the beginning of May I will be taking a group of students to France
for 10 days. Some are asking me about the quality of the beef in France
and whether they should risk eating any. Does the Mad Cow disease
effect other livestock as well or is it only beef?
Thanks for any input.
Pam Renna
psrenna@alpha.delta.edu
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The mad cow is almost forgotten now in view of the hoof and mouth
disease which has spread frm England to France, Holland, and Spain.
It is a disaster for butchers and farmers of course. Even though strict
measures have been ( and are being ) taken to stop the "épidemie or
épizootie to be exact) the meat counters are not popular at the moment.
I am taking 30 students to England in three weeks and have asked for
menus to include only soups, fish, pasta, eggs, rice and vegetables. (we
are staying in families)
Sorry not to be able to give you good news.
CLAU
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Pamela, I am taking a group to France in June. I will advise them not to
eat beef at all.
Bunny Rubenstein
brubens1@midsouth.rr.com
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Although the real danger of eating beef in the current market is
probably much less than the risk involved in getting into an
automobile, and I'm not personally worried, the psychology of the
perceived risk is such that it makes sense to adequately warn travelers.
You certainly do not want someone later asking you why you exposed their
child to an avoidable risk, however slight.
My friends in France are eating a lot of fish, chicken, duck, and turkey
right now.
BTW If my wife catches me eating beef this summer, mad cow disease will
be the least of my worries ;-)
Bob
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Does anyone know the risk of dairy products? Our CDC reports that
as of now there is no connection demonstrated. But what is the
research in France indicating?
My elder daughter & I will spend 4-6 weeks in Paris this summer & I
am concerned for her. Her typical teen diet includes pizza (never
without cheese) & occasional hamburgers at McDo. I'm wondering what
McDo cooks its fries in, for example.
It's really tough to plan for a complete lack of dairy. It helps that
we'll be doing most of our own cooking. But how serious is the mad
cow & dairy products?
Linda
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Ma Santé
http://www.dossierfamilial.com/dossier/alimentation/alimentation.php3
and
http://www.dossierfamilial.com/dfsante/esb/esb.php3
For the moment, the research seems to suggest that there is no evidence
of transmission by dairy products. There may be a possibility of
transmission from pigs or chickens fed on animal byproducts, but that is
not certain. My personal feeling is that chickens were not meant to eat
cows any more than cows were meant to eat each other ;-)
The contaminating elements have never been found in the meat coming from
muscles (steak, roasts, etc.). That is why these are very likely safe
whereas meat such as hamburger may present a risk because it could be a
mixture of unknown parts. Of course, these cuts do come into contact
with nerves and bones during their processing....
Also:
http://www.oivo-crioc.org/fr/theme/vachefolle.htm
Most of the information I have seen suggests that very little is 100%
certain. But that tends to be true in life in general.
Bob
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For what it is worth, may i add my two cents??? When we lived in Belgium
(1997-2000) they had several food scares, the two big ones being "Varken
Pest" (similar to mad cow, but for pigs -- varken) and the Dioxin food
poisoning problem. During the Varken Pest threat, thousands of pigs were
slaughtered and burned because of the disease, which is transmitted to other
animals, i.e. dogs, birds etc. But this was in select rural areas and was
never rarely a threat to others outside certain areas. Still, not many of
the locals in our village would eat sausage for a long time.
The Dioxin issue was a real problem. The health organizations found that
dioxin had been included in the animal feed given to chickens, cows, pigs,
etc. and within a matter of a few days, all animal products were removed from
shelves in all of Belgium. This included eggs, cheeses, milk, butter, all
chicken, beef and pork, and chocolate (which has cream and butter). This
lasted about a month or so until foods could be deemed safe again. But
because they supplied foods to other neighboring countries (France, Germany,
and the Netherlands) several major border towns were also affected by this.
Since leaving Belgium, we have learned that during the time we were there,
the Belgians were buying beef from England and it is unknown whether it was
ever tainted meat or not. In any case, we have been informed that we can
never again donate blood because we travelled through certain countries in
Europe.
My husband travels a lot to the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark, and even in
those countries, where none of the diseases have been found, they are still
cautious. On his most recent trip (2 weeks ago) to Denmark, no one was
eating much beef, chicken or pork. Fish is popular in those areas anyway,
now they just eat more...
In your travels to France, hard cheeses should be safe, as these are usually
aged and may pre=date the tainted foods. Fresh fruits and veggies and fresh
breads should be ok. You may want to suggest to your students that they
bring beef jerkey, beef sticks, and fruit rollups and other "lightweight"
snack foods that are easy to pack and slip into backpacks.
Not sure about what Mickey D's fries its french fries in in France, but in
Belgium, the pommes frites stands used vegetable oil...you may be able to
email McD's and ask them...several of the american fast food restaurants
follow u.s. guidelines for flavor so that a big mac will taste the same no
matter where you go in the world, so that may actually be one safe place to
eat, mon dieu!
Good luck and bon voyage.
Feliz Cordova
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