mad cow, it's what's for dinner

I've been thinking more seriously about cutting meat out of my diet. After reading this article, it seems like now is as good a time as any to stop eating beef.

And don't even get me started on how lackadaisical we Americans are about our food supply ... we really are sheep compared to the europeans. I smile when I think about much of the grafitti I saw in Italy in April 2001 — it was in Firenze and railed against genetically modified food.

USDA finds 1,000 violations of mad cow rules: Meat plants cut corners, failed to remove banned materials
Federal food safety inspectors found more than 1,000 instances since 2004 where U.S. meat plants cut corners or violated regulations aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Monday.

The USDA said it released documents to the American Meat Institute and the consumer group Public Citizen showing that federal inspectors filed 1,036 noncompliance reports from January 2004 to May 2005 involving the removal of the brain, skull and spinal cord of cattle aged 30 months and older. The materials are considered to carry the highest risk in spreading the brain-wasting disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).