[TETENAL]

http://www.netzeitung.de/spezial/hur...na/357137.html

The US Department of Agriculture has forbidden the import of German, British and Russian meals ready to eat for the victims of hurricane Katrina. The department fears that these meals are contaminated with BSE. A German Airbus with 15 tons of food was not allowed to enter the USA.

However, German MREs are eaten by US soldiers in foreign missions like in Afghanistan.

---

So the only conclusion one can draw from this is that the US government is feeding food to US soldiers of which it believes it is contaminated with BSE.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

http://www.netzeitung.de/spezial/hur...na/357137.html

The US Department of Agriculture has forbidden the import of German, British and Russian meals ready to eat for the victims of hurricane Katrina. The department fears that these meals are contaminated with BSE. A German Airbus with 15 tons of food was not allowed to enter the USA.

However, German MREs are eaten by US soldiers in foreign missions like in Afghanistan.

---

So the only conclusion one can draw from this is that the US government is feeding food to US soldiers of which it believes it is contaminated with BSE.

I haven't tried the German ones, but the British ones are really good, though probably contain insufficient quantities of grits, rice, gumbo, shrimp, and Tabasco to satisfy the average New Orleans resident. Did you know that American MREs come with Tabasco as standard?

On the other hand, if the Russian rations are anything like the Polish rations, I don't think this is any loss. Polish rations were pretty much dog food. Nobody in Louisiana is starving that badly. In fact, I think it is probably safe to say nobody is starving period. We have lots of food in the US. Why not just send money and buy it locally?

As for the Department of Agriculture, they are probably just following the law on the matter. I don't think they have the discretion to decide when to allow an import and when not to allow it. It has nothing really to do with whether the individual meals are safe. US troops eating them in Afghanistan (which isn't in the US and so doesn't involve US import regulations) are in no more danger than German troops eating them. Or for that matter, American troops and tourists in Germany eating any German food.

[analogika]

Simey, did you miss that little bit about blocking the donation of 15 tons of food for the Katrina survivors because of fears about BSE contamination (never mind we've had mandatory testing for years)?

That was kind of the relevant part of the post.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by analogika

Simey, did you miss that little bit about blocking the donation of 15 tons of food for the Katrina survivors because of fears about BSE contamination (never mind we've had mandatory testing for years)?

That was kind of the relevant part of the post.

Read my post.

As for the Department of Agriculture, they are probably just following the law on the matter. I don't think they have the discretion to decide when to allow an import and when not to allow it.

Maybe you just didn't realize that the import of beef products is banned. I'm sure you can send other goods (though money would make more sense given that we have food coming out of our ears in the US). Just don't send beef because the Department of Agriculture can't let it in the country. That's the law and AFAIK, it isn't optional.

I was making light because of course this situation is both trivial and stupid. It's stupid because the import regs aren't any kind of a secret and they weren't put there as a slap to German generosity. It's trivial because this is something very small that is being blown out of proportion. I'm getting very tired of everything getting blown up into an Issue with a capital I. Just stop it.

And the spin about giving US troops infected meat is just silly. The ban is there to protect cattle from infection. There are no cattle in the Army.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

I'm sure you can send other goods (though money would make more sense given that we have food coming out of our ears in the US).

Americans have money coming out of their ears as well. By your logic I'm sure you don't need any help at all.

The ban is there to protect cattle from infection. There are no cattle in the Army.

So the MREs sent for help are fed to cattle?

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

Americans have money coming out of their ears as well. By your logic I'm sure you don't need any help at all.

We don't "need" the help. It's appreciated, but not needed.

On the issue of protection of cattle. I'm far from being an epidemiologist but my understanding is that food products that could be contaminated are banned because carrying them into the country can inadvertently infect live cattle (from where it would spread). Most countries with large agricultural industries have laws limiting what can come in. Anybody exporting to those countries knows what the rules are. They are very well publicized.

Basically, the German authorities simply screwed up. They forgot they couldn't ship beef products. It's a simple mistake, no doubt innocently made. I'm getting a little tired of the way every simple mistake is blamed on the Americans, though. The agendas here are getting a little thick. That's not so innocent.

[dreilly1]

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

We don't "need" the help. It's appreciated, but not needed.

I think that's a question that can be debated. All I know is that if we do need the food, then Bush can waive the Dept. of Agriculture's BSE guidelines for a little while, just like he is waiving the regulation that Federal subcontractors pay the prevailing local wage to construction workers....

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by dreilly1

I think that's a question that can be debated. All I know is that if we do need the food, then Bush can waive the Dept. of Agriculture's BSE guidelines for a little while, just like he is waiving the regulation that Federal subcontractors pay the prevailing local wage to construction workers....

Can he do that? You are making an assumption that he (or more likely, the Secretary of Agriculture) has the authority. Please provide a cite to the law that grants him that authority. Just because you assume the authority exists, doesn't mean it exists.

But really, do you honestly think the US "needs" 15 tons of rations? Do you think we are going to starve without it? Don't be silly. It's an appreciated gesture, but not something that is desperately needed.

Next question, assuming there is waiver authority (which is unproven), is it worth the risk of infecting US cattle? Bear in mind, those displaced persons are in Texas, and so is a good chunk of the US cattle industry. Maybe the Germans should just send pork. It's not like pork is an unknown meat in German cuisine.

[dreilly1]

Originally Posted by SimeyTheLimey

Can he do that? You are making an assumption that he (or more likely, the Secretary of Agriculture) has the authority. Please provide a cite to the law that grants him that authority. Just because you assume the authority exists, doesn't mean it exists.

But really, do you honestly think the US "needs" 15 tons of rations? Do you think we are going to starve without it? Don't be silly. It's an appreciated gesture, but not something that is desperately needed.

Next question, assuming there is waiver authority (which is unproven), is it worth the risk of infecting US cattle? Bear in mind, those displaced persons are in Texas, and so is a good chunk of the US cattle industry. Maybe the Germans should just send pork. It's not like pork is an unknown meat in German cuisine.

Yes, you're right, I'm assuming that the President has the authority to suspend a regulation made by a department of the Executive Branch. I could be wrong.

But there was a vast area that was affected by this storm, not just New Orleans, and there are probably still areas without power and where hundreds of people are in shelters. They need food that is easy to transport, easy to store, and won't spoil, and MRE's fit the bill. Besides, if we give them German MRE's then we have more Good-old American Tobasco®-containing Rations to send to our boys in Iraq!

As for the risk of infecting US cattle, I can't say how big that risk is. But not all the affected people are in cattle country, and I think we could make use of this food elsewhere.

[TETENAL]

I don't eat cattle due to BSE and I would understand everybody who doesn't want to eat cattle MREs. But, cattle older than a certain age are tested for BSE in Germany and NATO declared those MRE to be BSE free (according to the Spiegel-article). I would say the risk to infect cattle with BSE with those MRE is miniscule. Unless American cattle somehow are more intelligent as those elsewhere in the world and know how to open those packages.

I appreciate any effort to suppress the spreading of BSE. If the US Department of Agriculture is doing this vigorously I think that's a very good thing. Something that should have done in Europe a long time ago (instead of feeding cadaver to herbivores). In that case a friendly phone call asking to not send cattle MREs would have sufficed. It wouldn't have been such a big deal then.

[rambo47]

It wouldn't have been such a big deal then.

It's really not a big deal now, either.

[ghporter]

Too bad I don't really read German. The gist I got was that the Germans were upset that their donation wasn't accepted-even though (not mentioned) there's been a ban on European beef imports into the US for quite some time. To me this seems like a case of "not thinking through all the implications." I'm sure the US people said "thanks very much, but we aren't allowed to import any European beef. Nice thought though." And it was.

In actuality there never was a real shortage of food for the disaster victims, but there WAS a shortage of transport methods that would work for large masses of cargo. Helicopters can only carry so much; this was a job for cargo containers.

[Cold Warrior]

Russia is not on the Red Cross list of 'bad' European countries that you see when you donate blood. The list is used to determine eligibility, which in part is based on BSE histories in the listed countries. Russia isn't a BSE risk. It just got lumped in the with Germans.

[Cold Warrior]

<double post>

[ghporter]

I should have also pointed out that MREs don't come with instructions about how MUCH food there is in them. They're designed to feed people IN COMBAT and who get maybe one or two meals a day. They have about 4000 calories in them if you eat the whole thing... Oh, and if you "subsist" on these for very long, you'll need a LOT of salad. A WHOLE lot of salad.

There are also "humanitarian rations," which are NOT made for combat soldiers, and they have closer to 2000 calories-and don't stop one up like MREs.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by ghporter

There are also "humanitarian rations," which are NOT made for combat soldiers, and they have closer to 2000 calories-and don't stop one up like MREs.

This last part brings back memories. Not very pleasant ones.

However, there is a cure. It's called a T Ration. They have the opposite effect in my experience. Unfortunately, the combination of eating both T rats and MRE's with their opposite effects can be explosive. Think champagne cork.

[Cold Warrior]

2-3 MRE's a day will stop me up, but getting in 1 hot meal daily while in the field goes a long way to maintaining regularity.

[Athens]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

http://www.netzeitung.de/spezial/hur...na/357137.html

The US Department of Agriculture has forbidden the import of German, British and Russian meals ready to eat for the victims of hurricane Katrina. The department fears that these meals are contaminated with BSE. A German Airbus with 15 tons of food was not allowed to enter the USA.

However, German MREs are eaten by US soldiers in foreign missions like in Afghanistan.

---

So the only conclusion one can draw from this is that the US government is feeding food to US soldiers of which it believes it is contaminated with BSE.

That is pretty pathetic

[RIRedinPA]

Originally Posted by Athens

That is pretty pathetic

Did you read any of the other responses between the first post and yours? There's a logical explanation for the refusal, not some snub at the Euros.