Proposed FDA rules on antibiotic use in livestock

[Pearse]

I don't think eliminating non-medicinal use of antibiotics will raise the prices significantly. I was referring to your suggestion that it would be better if animals raised for meat were raised on small family farms, or using strictly pasture raised cattle.

 

I'm all in favor of banning the use of antibiotics in animal feed as growth promoters as, like you, I see it as a public health risk.

 

Pearse

[Alchemist]

I don't think eliminating non-medicinal use of antibiotics will raise the prices significantly. I was referring to your suggestion that it would be better if animals raised for meat were raised on small family farms, or using strictly pasture raised cattle.

 

I don't believe that was my suggestion, FWIW. I do purchase my meat that way (pasture-raised to the extent possible, purchased directly from the farmers). Those sorts of choices/operations do add substantially to the cost; I'll pay it and then eat less meat and waste less. But I recognize it's not a choice many would make. Perhaps you were confusing me with someone else.

[Alchemist]

For those interested in the topic of bacteria (and antibiotic-resistant bacteria) in meat, my husband just forwarded this article in the Dec. 2013 issue of Consumer Reports.