Agricultural News
Beef- Is It Safe? Is It Healthy?
Fri, 12 Feb 2010 6:49:47 CST
For the urban consumer, the decision to purchase beef presents many questions. They wonder, is it safe? Is it healthy? Is it environmentally sound? We focus on these questions in today's Beef Buzz- click on the Listen Bar below to hear today's report.
"There are plenty of answers to their questions on the Internet, but are these the best answers? Are they even accurate? Can you, a beef producer, provide a better answer, one that is rational and delivered with a personal touch?" asked Jason Sawyer, assistant professor of beef cattle science at Texas A&M University. Sawyer spoke Jan. 26 at a meeting of the American National CattleWomen's (ANCW's) Consumer Education Committee in San Antonio, Texas.
Sawyer said that often beef producers are guilty of dismissing consumers' questions, a habit that may be more to our detriment than we think.
"We label these as silly questions and wonder why they even feel the need to ask such a thing," Sawyer told attendess. "But we forget that 80% of our consumers come from cities larger than 200,000 people. They don't have the background to answer these questions."
Beef producers are the best source of information about beef, Sawyer reminded. "We have the background and expertise to answer consumers' questions, so we should. And we should do it in a way that puts the information in the proper context. Use common sense when communicating."
Is beef safe?
The publicity level of foodborne illness incidents in the U.S. naturally raises many questions and concerns for consumers. But Sawyer says this is an area in serious need of some commonsense communication.
There are 5,000 deaths per year in the U.S. from foodborne illness, a figure that includes all food not just beef. By comparison, there are 16,500 deaths per year in the U.S. from use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Aleve. "So, what's safer in America: eating or taking a pain pill?" Sawyer asked.
"Although we all sincerely wish that those 5,000 deaths from foodborne illness did not occur, when you consider that those were out of a population of more than 300 million, those are pretty good odds. I'll continue to 'take my chances' eating beef, especially since most incidences of foodborne illness are the result of incorrect handling by the consumer."
Is beef healthy?
Consumers are sometimes wary of beef because they perceive its saturated fat content to be unhealthy. Again though, Sawyer said this concern should be addressed with accurate information and common sense.
The U.S. government guidelines for a healthy 2,000-calorie-per-day diet includes up to 16 grams (g) of saturated fat. Given those guidelines and the nutritional content of today's lean beef, you could actually eat 24 ounces (or eight 3-ounce servings) of lean beef every single day before consuming the daily maximum recommended amount of saturated fat.
Consumers also express concern with hormones in beef. But have you ever heard concern expressed over hormones in soybean oil or cabbage, Sawyer asked. Cabbage contains 12,000 nanograms (ng) of estrogen per 500 g of vegetable. For the same quantity, soybean oil contains a whopping 1 million ng of estrogen. By comparison, beef from hormone-implanted cattle contains just 11 ng of estrogen and beef from nonimplanted cattle contains just 9 ng of estrogen.
"We just need to put the information in the proper context for consumers and, with a little common sense, they'll easily decide that buying beef is safe and healthy," Sawyer concluded.
(Our thanks to Angus Productions for this story)
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