Sushi in LA

You guys seen this?

www.chowhound.com/californi...91023.html

I’m *almost* ready to venture forth into the world again for sushi and after you last tidbit it looks as if I can no longer avoid Go’s. ;-)

The ban on japanese beef was lifted last year. Of course, they're attempting to introduce it again. The US beef industry is way fucked up and the USDA is entirely complicit. I've been attempting to avoid eating beef ever since I found out that the reason Japan's reported incidences of BSE are higher than the ours is that the US doesn't test all their cattle (Japan is the only country in the world that does so). I think the testing was done on 1 in 100 (1 in 1000? some shocking number like that) and the USDA is planning on scaling that back even more. A black angus beef supplier (creekstone farms) is actually suing the USDA because they won't allow them to test all of their cattle.

Things like that, the US making WTO membership conditional on an agreement to eliminate all new member countries' previous BSE restrictions on American beef, and the recent findings of the last two cases of BSE in the US being a different strain from what's previously been seen. How come no one ever hears about this stuff?

"Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease takes a similar form in humans as BSE does in cattle. Muscle control is lost, limbs become uncontrollable, and voices become erratic and strangely pitched. A 14-year-old English girl, for example, cried for two weeks straight and then began screaming before she died."

Mercury poisoning doesn't seem all that bad now.



Legislation Designed To Apply Pressure On Japan

Jun 12, 2006 4:55 pm

As promised, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson has introduced a bill that would ban Japanese beef imports to the U.S. until Japan lifts its ban on U.S. beef. Nelson says he realizes the bill won't cause Japan much economic harm. In fact, he says that's really the point.

Nelson says the measure is meant to apply pressure on Japan ahead of a meeting between that country's Prime Minister and President Bush later this month. Ultimately, Nelson says he's hopeful the introduction of his legislation will be enough to prompt an announcement at that time. If that happens, Nelson says the Senate won't act on his bill.

But if Japan doesn't move to re-open its market to U.S. beef, Nelson says his colleagues could seek a trade sanctions bill that goes much further than his own measure. And that's something Nelson says he opposes. He says that is a beef battle, and he wants to keep it that way.