Archive for October, 2009

Real Issues or Just Soapbox Beat-Ups?

October 22, 2009 at 1:31 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Do you have a ‘pet’ issue at the moment or are there a couple that have you running mad or very frustrated?

How would you rate the possible options I can see for the general Australian producer ?(You can have more than one choice).


It would be interesting to see whether people see these as real issues. And can you provide real solutions for your ‘pets’? Given Australia’s producers are certainly a minority group, I think we are going to have to use some creative thinking to work with the rest of the Community. Otherwise, their sheer numbers will outvote us in a democracy! Or perhaps you think some of these are just ‘beat-ups’ by journo’s needing stories that will work themselves out like most things eventually.
How do you see it? Perhaps you think there should be some others e.g. Free university education…etc

What do you think?
Please leave your comment below.

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E.coli Cripples US Hamburger Consumer & NLIS?

October 5, 2009 at 1:44 pm · Filed under LPA, Livestock issues, MLA, NLIS, Rural business, farming, livestock, meat industry, rural australia, rural issues, supermarkets, tagging

Question: If someone can be crippled from eating bad hamburger meat (where most of Australia’s exports to the US end-up), should she be able to locate the livestock from whence it originated? And if so, is this possible?
New York Times article

The long and the short of this article is that after being crippled by the E.coli from eating minced meat from the food giant, Cargill, this poor girl attempted to back-track the meat’s pathway.  The meat was manufactured from a plethora of ground-up rubbish including some cattle meat and marketed as  “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties”. However, because it originated from a variety of animals and by-products, processed by a variety of personnel there was no hope of tracking-down the originating beasts or their ‘home’ properties. (The side issue here is that the ingredients were listed only as “beef”).

The reality is that a cattle ID system such as NLIS or LPA would not and could not have assisted this victim or others following in her eating ‘footsteps’?  Perhaps this is one of the reasons America and Japan don’t have a livestock ID system. If they don’t, then how can MLA justify Australian producers paying their levy taxes to fund one here?!


What do you think?

Please leave your comment below.

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