rowanf | Dec. 30th, 2003

I'm on a Zoompanel food panel for surveys. Usually it is some manufacturer askign if I buy frozen food in some category or other. The usual consumer panel kinds of things. Today it was a survey on BSE. Am I going to continue buying hamburgers in fast food restaurants. I didn't realize that was the question. They asked me how often I eat food containing beef (once or twice a week) and how often I go to a fast food restaurant (about once a month). Then they started asking me about my hamburger buying habits at those restaurants. Well, that once a month trip is to Jack-in-a-Box for a sourdough breakfast sandwich - ham & egg & cheese. It has been *years* since I bought a hamburger in a fast food restaurant. And I'm *surely* not starting now with BSE confirmed in the US cattle population. The hamburgers I make at home are 1/2 lamb & 1/2 beef and all the meat comes from Whole Foods.

( more on the survey )

Am I worried about getting variant CJD from mad cows? Not particularly. Only 150 people got it in Europe (mostly the UK) out of all of the ground meat that must have been consumed by millions. Not bad odds. Plus, I don't really eat that much ground beef. I do wish that USDA would enact stricter standards. I'm glad that I can easily get hormone-free, free range meats for my family's consumption.