I have a friend who was a dairy farmer for decades and he refused to eat at McDonald’s.

He likes hamburgers and all, he just couldn’t stand the thought of his spent Holsteins being served as a Big Mac.

Some types in the Australian beef industry feel the same way.

The Courier Mail in Brisbane reports that backers of truth-in-labeling legislation aimed at ensuring old cow meat is clearly labeled as such are concerned industry representatives will succeed in destroying the intent of the legislation.

They are worried that a register being drawn up in response to the legislation will only make buying beef in the supermarket even more confusing for consumers.

Once passed, the terminology would apply to meat sold in supermarkets and butchers around the country.

Consultant to the truth-in-labelling legislation, Norman Hunt, said vested industry interests who did not want consumers to realize they were buying beef from old cows were to blame.

The Aus-Meat domestic retail beef register, drawn up earlier this month, is proposing to change the much-maligned "budget" label, used to describe beef from cattle 10 years old, to "economy".

Under existing law in Queensland, abattoirs must label old cow meat "manufacturing" grade but retailers are then able to market it as prime cut under the "budget" grading.

Government adviser, Red Meat Advisory Council secretary Justin Toohey said it was impossible to provide a guide to eating quality of meat to consumers based on a whole of animal approach, adding,

"The trouble is every muscle has to be graded individually for this sort of thing to be a success. An eye-fillet from an eight-tooth cow could be beautiful eating, for example."

When someone says Australian boarding school, all I can think of is the highlarious television show, Summer Heights High.

Some researchers from Canberra report in the current issue of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease about an outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis at an Australian boarding school.

Thirty-five cases of gastroenteritis were recorded among 58 questionnaire respondents, with 14 of 18 persons submitting fecal samples having confirmed C. jejuni infections. Attendance at one evening meal was statistically associated with illness (ratio of proportions of 3.09; 95% confidence intervals: 1.21, 14.09; p = 0.02). There was no statistically significant association between any single food provided at the implicated evening meal and illness, suggesting that the potential cause of the outbreak was a cross-contamination event.

The study highlights the potential of cross-contamination as a cause of epidemic campylobacteriosis. The application of molecular techniques to aid epidemiological investigation of recognized C. jejuni outbreaks is illustrated.
 

Some of the younger readers – less than 50-years-old – say they don’t get my cultural references on barfblog.com.

They Shoot Horses Don’t They? is a 1969 film based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Horace McCoy. It focuses on a disparate group of characters desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon and the opportunistic emcee who urges them on to victory.

When Sydney Pollack signed to direct the film, he approached Jane Fonda with the role of Gloria. The actress declined because she felt the script wasn't very good, but her then-husband Roger Vadim, who saw similarities between the book and works of the French existentialists, urged her to reconsider.

I’m lifting this all from wiki. I saw the film when I was young and the desperation conveyed by the characters was compelling.

Oh, and Western Australia has approved the human consumption of horse meat.

Food & Drink Digital reports 50,000 to 70,000 horses are slaughtered in Australia every year for human consumption in other parts of the world, but until now they were not available for consumption in Australia.

About a week ago some kid came to the door requesting a water sample. Some sort of free testing he said, but he had no identification and the city just doesn’t send people out in trashy cars with no mufflers.

I said no and shut the door and went back to the-by-now barking dogs and crying kid.

A few days ago Australia’s Herald Sun reported that a contaminated water scam is being used to fleece thousands of dollars from Victorian householders.

Doorknockers doing bogus drinking water quality tests are offering free filters through a fake government rebate, then charging up to $3000 for maintenance over 10 years.

Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson said residents were frightened into thinking their water was polluted, adding,

"Do not deal with anyone claiming to represent this scheme and do not give them any money."

Industry sources said shysters often changed company names or falsely claimed to be from a water authority.

Yarra Valley Water managing director Tony Kelly said in most cases, water filters were an unnecessary expense, adding,

"While some customers may choose to purchase a water filter for reasons such as taste, there is no need to filter tap water for health and safety purposes.”