Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Missed you guys but have been keeping busy and out of trouble. Yes, still enjoying cooking very much, going slow food a lot too now....

Here today because I thought of you guys recently as I know some of you are "adventurous" foodies and travel abroad which is where the risk is highest. We had a discussion about horse meat a long time ago and I said then that the stuff was riddled with toxic dangerous drugs and chemicals. There was no science to cite at that time. There is now, for bute, the commonly used "horse aspirin":

http://www.beautysequinerescue.org/bute_contamination.pdf

After this study came out, there were several recalls in EU. There is no withdrawal period - it stays in the flesh and constitutes a cancer risk for human consumers even if the animal only had it once in its life. Aplastic anemia for human consumers. Campbell's has quit purchasing mushrooms (for their soup) fertilized with horse manure because of finding high levels of this (were using race horse manure). The really sick part is the Belgian owned slaughterhouses (used to be in US through 2007, now in Canada and Mexico) have been foisting this off on unsuspecting Europeans for years! And at premium prices too. "Let's kill Sally's pony, kill the consumers AND make big bucks!" Creeps...

Not just bute either, trichinellosis too:

http://bites.ksu.edu/news/142295/10/05/26/trichinellosis-romanian-never-ending-story-overview-traditions-culinary-customs

So if you ever thought you should indulge, well think again. They are not raised for food in modern societies so there is no standard on what they are exposed to as there is with our farmed meat animals. Ultimately consumers' exposure risk has now been shown at 90-100% for bute and there is much more: wormers, fly sprays, steroids, etc.. After 7/31/10 the EU will no longer accept US origin horse meat because of this. But that doesn't mean some slimy people won't still keep trying to make a buck and sell this toxic stuff via underhanded methods. Just say NO and tell every foodie you know and care about

Thanks for the warning. I haven't been tempted, but certainly won't eat any now.

Leena,

See, I told you Texans hate the French.

Glad I dodged the raw horse meat appetizer last time I was in Japan.

And it would seem for very good reason(s)...

Yep, not just the Texans either - the Mexicans and Canadians are doing all the shipping of this "product". Just yesterday, a Canadian representative introduced legislation to ban horse slaughter there and cited these same studies asking how can his society remain moral and ship toxic food to other countries.

Fuzz, watch those Japanese. They are famous for killing off their racehorse stars once they can't run fast enough or procreate profusely and we now KNOW without a doubt that racehorses all get these drugs.....

BTW we do have enclaves in this country, backwoods sorts apparently, or perhaps you could call them daredevils (or other choice monikers:), in MT, WY, MO, IL, OK where there are some who have been actively lobbying for making US horse slaughter legal again. I believe it's for the money they believe they can make but they'll say it's about not wasting "meat" and "healthy" food..... If you want to read about a real piece of work, google Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis, a WY state rep who regardless of the facts, insists it's healthy meat that should not be wasted. This nutcase wants to serve it state prisoners, underprivileged schoolchildren and the elderly in state subsidized housing! Unreal. People, it just points out the very real need to KNOW who your elected representatives are and what they are up to. I am sure she'll be voted out next term but can you imagine this maniac ever being elected where you live? Shivers down the spine....

Have to do a little catch up reading here and see what everyone has been up to. Good to see ya, Fuzz and Frank and.... Kathy --- how the heck are you doing with the health issues? Hope it's all well in hand now and life is back to being a bowl of cherries..... BTW just finished a lovely bowl of cherries, in season and awesome right now!

Lenna
I have made a full recovery. Thanks for asking.

Kathy,

I'm so happy to hear that. Fighting medical issues is never fun and it sure is a relief to get back to some normalcy. So I guess this means you're probably back full force to cooking up a storm Yippee!

Lenna
I have been really not doing much cooking for us. We had take out twice last week & we usually have take out about once a month. I did however, make a double batch of split pea soup & ham & bean soup, pressure canned it for the kids. I have chicken cooked & broth for a huge batch of chicken stew to be pressure canned also. Maybe that's why I haven't cooked for us!