Impending, possible meat shortages

IBTL

AKiss20 said:
but obviously being primarily plant based come at a much lower environmental impact
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And so it goes... Don't eat meat... the planet will die... Can't believe it lasted as long as it has, since people have been eating meat for for all of recorded history. Did the cave drawings show the vegetable garden or the hunt?

[I'll take heat for this, but] IF you're down on processed foods, why is processing plants somehow better than processing meat? Hmm... Must be the ad campaigns.
 
Ravioli said:
IF you're down on processed foods, why is processing plants somehow better than processing meat? Hmm... Must be the ad campaigns.
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Where did I say I am "down on processed foods"? I cited a source on the comparative environmental impact of impossible burger vs beef. I will note I didn't make any normative claim (i.e. you *shouldn't* eat meat) but rather just stated a fact supported by evidence (this plant-based alternative comes at a reduced environmental impact to the meat-based food). Why so touchy? Yeesh
 
AKiss20 said:
I am not sure how that is at all relevant to what I posted.
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Not wanting to cause pain to the plants. It was in jest, hence the smiley.

I never tried a meat substitute that didn't taste like moldy cardboard. I'll give these a try if I happen to see them, though.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
I never tried a meat substitute that didn't taste like moldy cardboard. I'll give these a try if I happen to see them, though.
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I have tried a wide variety of meat substitutes, and I will agree a lot of them are nowhere near the same experience as actual meat. I was frankly shocked (as were my meat eating friends) at how close impossible burger got. Give it a go, if you don't like them, at least you can say you tried it!
 
AKiss20 said:
Where did I say I am "down on processed foods"?
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You asserted that processing plants into Frakenfood was more mechanized then meat. Thankfully you admitted you've never seen a food processing facility. I've seen MANY. No social distancing issues there. Even on the (OMG) kill line in a Turkey plant the people are 1) wearing masks before it was vogue, and 2) 6 feet apart. Lot's of knives swinging and all.
 
AKiss20 said:
I have tried a wide variety of meat substitutes, and I will agree a lot of them are nowhere near the same experience as actual meat. I was frankly shocked (as were my meat eating friends) at how close impossible burger got. Give it a go, if you don't like them, at least you can say you tried it!
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Based on my very limited experience, I think they did a pretty good job with the Impossible Burger. However, the Beyond Burger brand leaves a lot to be desired, IMO. It's sorely lacking in something.
 
My brother tried the impossible whopper a few months ago and said he couldn’t really tell the difference. He’s not vegetarian or vegan. I can’t see myself giving up meat. It’s too good!
 
@jordane93 - that's like saying I don't like meat, so I eat Big Macs.... heehhehehehhe

[Oh, that was a joke. Where did I leave my empjis]
 
Ravioli said:
You asserted that processing plants into Frakenfood was more mechanized then meat. Thankfully you admitted you've never seen a food processing facility. I've seen MANY. No social distancing issues there. Even on the (OMG) kill line in a Turkey plant the people are 1) wearing masks before it was vogue, and 2) 6 feet apart. Lot's of knives swinging and all.
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Uhhh I think you need to re-read my post. What part of "I am guessing" is the same thing "I am asserting as a fact" to you?

You keep trying to imply that I am making some kind of normative claim about the ethics of eating meat and I simply am not (I have explicitly said that I am not). Please stop reading into my posts what I have explicitly said I am not saying.
 
Fallsrider said:
However, the Beyond Burger brand leaves a lot to be desired, IMO. It's sorely lacking in something
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Agreed. I did a head-to-head competition of Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger, and Trader Joe's new generic version. Impossible won by a mile.
 
Ravioli said:
Ever see a Lion cook it's food?
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Ever see a human catch a gazelle and choke it to death using their jaws?

FWIW, that steak looked cooked just about as much as I usually like it. I want it cooked enough that I'm sure it's dead.
 
Well @AKiss20 - I never challenged your ethics. I told you the processing is no more or less.

The distancing and PPE have been in place for decades.

To deescalate a bit I'll share that when I was in my 20's I was in Chemical manufacturing and we wore PPE to protect ourselves from the product. In my 30's I started working with Food manufacturing and we wore PPE to protect the product from us.
 
jordane93 said:
My brother tried the impossible whopper a few months ago and said he couldn’t really tell the difference. He’s not vegetarian or vegan. I can’t see myself giving up meat. It’s too good!
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I tried the impossible whopper and found it to be about the same as a real whopper. But, that's not saying much as the Burger King meat isn't exactly top shelf. In a pinch the impossible will do, but does it compare to a nice thick 1/2 pound hand formed ground round off my grill? Nope.
 
Bill Jennings said:
I tried the impossible whopper and found it to be about the same as a real whopper. But, that's not saying much as the Burger King meat isn't exactly top shelf. In a pinch the impossible will do, but does it compare to a nice thick 1/2 pound hand formed ground round off my grill? Nope.
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And I think the BK version is helped by their open flame imparting a smokiness to it. I don't think it would taste as good coming from a restaurant with a flat grill.
 
Ravioli said:
@jordane93 - that's like saying I don't like meat, so I eat Big Macs.... heehhehehehhe

[Oh, that was a joke. Where did I leave my empjis]
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Yea it’s kind of a weird craze. It’s not even much healthier. The impossible whopper is 630 calories and a regular whopper is 677.
 
Bill Jennings said:
I tried the impossible whopper and found it to be about the same as a real whopper. But, that's not saying much as the Burger King meat isn't exactly top shelf. In a pinch the impossible will do, but does it compare to a nice thick 1/2 pound hand formed ground round off my grill? Nope.
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Definitely. No comparison to a homemade burger.
 
I also tried Impossible a while back. Could tell it was just some sort of fat and badness to make it taste like a fast food burger, of the same quality. Wasn’t awful, wasn’t great.
 
Everskyward said:
When I was on a liveaboard sailing trip last year, they make kale chips (toasted in the oven with olive oil). I thought I would hate it, because kale, but it was good.
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RJM62 said:
Not wanting to cause pain to the plants. It was in jest, hence the smiley.

I never tried a meat substitute that didn't taste like moldy cardboard. I'll give these a try if I happen to see them, though.

Rich
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You might, but I wouldn't bet on it. First, they are quite expensive. Even with buy-one-get-one-free at Publix, it still cost more than beef. And second, my health conscious wife that is always trying to get me to eat less meat took a look at the (very long) ingredient list and turned it down. The price may come down, but I doubt the ingredient list will shrink.
 
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James_Dean said:
pet food
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So you're saying if we get really hungry, there's a lot of cat and dog food about to hit the shelves? :D

BTW, it's great to hear from an expert who know's what they're talking about instead of those with an opinion not based on facts, proposing idiot solutions and blaming it all to the chinese, WHO, the media, 5G towers, vaccines, little green men and the monster under the bed.
 
mcdewey said:
So you're saying if we get really hungry, there's a lot of cat and dog food about to hit the shelves? :D
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“Follow me for more recipes!”

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I found an awful FB group with things that aren’t aesthetically pleasing that includes horrid food photos.

The hard boiled egg Jell-O shots were almost kinda fascinating though.
 
JOhnH said:
The two I have had weren't bad, but I suspect the bun, mayo, pickle, tomato, mayo, cheese and onion would have been just about as good without the fake meat.
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I joke because it has literally been decades since I ate a Burger King burger. Never really cared for them because it always seemed their buns were stale... Things may have changed over the years (or maybe I just happened to encounter a bad batch at one store) but I have not been back since.
 
If we're still on food processing:

Pet food is perfectly safe for human consumption.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating. But if the labeling was changed many wouldn't know the difference.
 
smv said:
...and apparently a very good source of vital nutrients.

:rofl:
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A) Maybe consider not taking information from such an insanely biased and psuedo-scientific website as gospel (I will not say more at risk of violating the TOS)
B) How about looking at some actual scientific studies?
https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(10)00368-7/fulltext#sec3.1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5188409/

"Isoflavones are diphenolic molecules that have a chemical structure similar to estrogen and exert estrogen-like effects in some tissues under certain conditions. Consequently, concern has been raised that isoflavones have feminizing effects in men and adversely affect male reproductive health...However, the clinical evidence overwhelmingly indicates that there is essentially no basis for concern. Isoflavone exposure at levels even greatly exceeding reasonable dietary intakes does not affect blood T or estrogen levels in men or sperm and semen parameters. The ED-related findings in rats can be attributed to excessive isoflavone exposure and to differences in isoflavone metabolism between rodents and humans. Thus, men can feel confident that making soy a part of their diet will not compromise their virility or reproductive health." from the first article
 
AKiss20 said:
A) Maybe consider not taking information from such an insanely biased and psuedo-scientific website as gospel (I will not say more at risk of violating the TOS)
B) How about looking at some actual scientific studies?
https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(10)00368-7/fulltext#sec3.1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5188409/
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A(1)(c) Maybe consider not taking everything you read on the interwebs, especially anything you read in a forum that is so very obviously off-topic, so seriously.
(3)(a) How about not completely ignoring the fact that I referred to estrogen as a "vital nutrient" AND included the ROFL guy....?

<insert the largest <eyeroll> emoji you can find here>
 
Sorry for the terrible formatting. Last year on 4/27 we processed 468,000 hogs and 120,000 cattle. This year? 318,000 and 81,000.

SJ_LS710
St Joseph, MO Mon Apr 27, 2020 USDA Market News
Estimated Daily Livestock Slaughter under Federal Inspection

CATTLE CALVES HOGS SHEEP
Monday 04/27/2020(est) 81,000 2,000 318,000 7,000
Week ago (est) 86,000 2,000 365,000 6,000
Year ago (act) 120,000 2,000 468,000 9,000


https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/f...les/3208/2020-04-27/192484/ams_3208_00046.txt
 
PaulS said:
Why is production being cut?
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Uhh....Covid-19?

Beef Plant Closures:

Tyson in Wallula, WA (indefinitely closed): On April 23rd, Tyson announced it will indefinitely close its Wallula facility to test all employees. The plant employs around 1,400 people and can process about 2,300 head per day.

JBS in Green Bay, WI (indefinitely closed): As of April 22nd, at least 147 cases of coronavirus were linked to the Green Bay plant. On Sunday, April 26th, the company announced the indefinite closure of the facility. The facility can process about 900 head per day.

JBS in Greeley, CO: On April 12th, JBS announced it closed its Greeley facility for deep cleaning after dozens of employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The plant was slated to reopen Friday, April 24th. However, some industry sources say a Monday, April 27th opening is more likely. The facility can process about 5,400 head per day.

National in Tama, IA: The company shuttered operations on April 11th after numerous employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The facility reopened Monday, April 20th. The plant can process about 1,100 head per day.

CTI Foods in King of Prussia, PA (processing plant): Around April 10th, the hamburger grinding plant was closed due to coronavirus concerns. Wendell Young IV, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, said the plant has since been reopened.

National in Dodge City, KS: On April 8, National Beef announced its first positive coronavirus case. The facility closed Thursday, April 16th through Tuesday, April 21st. The plant can process around 5,200 head per day.

Cargill in Hazelton, PA (processing plant): On April 7th, it was announced that Cargill suspended operations at its Hazelton, Pa. facility to minimize the risk of spread between its employees. This location produces items such as ground beef and steaks and has since been reopened.

JBS in Souderton, PA: On March 31st, the JBS Souderton, Pa. plant “temporarily reduced production because several senior management team members have displayed flu-like symptoms”. The plant reopened Monday, April 20th. The facility can process about 2,500 head of cattle per day.



Beef Plants Under Watch:

Tyson in Dakota City, NE: On April 22nd, a labor union official said the plant had 23 workers who tested positive for the coronavirus, with more test results pending. Some industry sources have heard that the facility will be dark all this week, but details are elusive. The facility can process around 6,000 to 7,000 head per day.

JBS in Grand Island, NE: On April 21st, roughly 237 cases of coronavirus were reported at the Grand Island plant. The plant employs around 3,600 people and can process about 5,200 head per day.

WR Reserve in Lincoln, NE (processing plant): On April 14th, it was announced that at least ten workers tested positive for the coronavirus at the beef processing plant. The facility is located in Hastings, just south of Grand Island where positive cases were reported at a JBS plant.

Aurora Packing Company in Aurora, IL: Around April 13th, the beef plant was temporarily closed due to coronavirus concerns and has since reopened. The facility can process around 600 head per day.

Cargill in Fort Morgan, CO: On April 3rd, At least 102 workers at the Cargill facility tested positive for the coronavirus. The plant is reducing shifts in order to minimize the risk of spread. The location employs around 2,100 people and can process about 4,700 head per day.



Pork Plant Closures:

Indiana Packing Corp. in Delphi, IN: On Friday, April 24th, Indiana Packing Corp. announced that their Delphi facility will be closed for at least two weeks. Operations will be shuttered on Monday, April 27th. The plant is set to reopen around May 8th and can process around 17,300 hogs per day.

Smithfield in Monmouth, IL (indefinitely closed): On Friday, April 24th, Smithfield announced that it will suspend operations beginning this week until further notice. The plant can process around 12,600 head per day.

Tyson in Logansport, IN: On Wednesday, April 22nd, Tyson announced that it will temporarily close its Logansport location for at least two weeks after 146 employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The plant stopped all production on Saturday, April 25th. The facility can process around 15,400 hogs per day.

Prime Pork in Windom, MN: On Tuesday, April 21st, Prime Pork announced it will temporarily close its Windom plant for deep cleaning. Prime Pork expected to resume operations on Friday, April 24th, but production of some pork products will be suspended until the week of May 4th. The facility can process around 5,200 hogs per day.

JBS in Worthington, MN (indefinitely closed): On Monday, April 20th, JBS announced the indefinite closure of its Worthington plant following a coronavirus outbreak. The facility can process around 20,000 hogs per day.

Hormel Foods Corp. in Rochelle, IL, and Alma, KS (processing plants): On Monday, April 20th, two manufacturing plants under Hormell Foods Corp. closed due to a coronavirus outbreak. The Rochelle location produces items including bacon and lunch meat. The Alma location manufactures meals under the Saucy Blues foodservice brand. Both facilities plan to reopen on May 4th.

Tyson in Waterloo, IA (indefinitely closed): On Thursday, April 16th, an outbreak was reported at the Tyson plant in Waterloo. On Tuesday, April 22nd, the company announced plans to indefinitely suspend operations. The facility employs around 2,700 people and can process about 19,000 hogs per day.

Burgers' Smokehouse in California, MO (processing plant): On Thursday, April 16th, the company closed their facility after three employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The company is the largest producer of country ham in the United States. The facility plans to reopen on Thursday, April 30th.

Smithfield in Martin City, MO (processing plant): The Missouri processing plant indefinitely closed on Wednesday, April 15th. The plant employs around 400 people and produces spiral and smoked hams. The facility receives supplies from the indefinitely closed Sioux Falls, Smithfield plant.

Smithfield in Cudahy, WIS (processing plant): The Wisconsin processing plant closed on Wednesday, April 15th due to coronavirus concerns. The facility produces bacon and sausage and plans to reopen on April 29th.

Smithfield in Sioux Falls, SD (indefinitely closed): On Sunday, April 12th, Smithfield closed its Sioux Falls plant indefinitely after hundreds of employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The plant can process about 19,500 hogs per day, which represents 4% to 5% of U.S. pork production.

Fresh Mark in Salem, OH (processing plant): On Saturday, April 11th, the processing plant temporarily closed for deep cleaning. The facility produces items such as bacon, ham, and deli meats. The processing plant reopened Monday, April 20th.

Tyson in Columbus Junction, IA: On Monday, April 6th, Tyson announced that its Columbus Junction plant was suspending operations after more than two dozen employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The facility can process about 10,100 hogs per day. Tyson resumed limited operations on Monday, April 21st. Industry sources report that the plant is currently operating at 50% capacity, roughly 5,050 head per day.



Pork Plants Under Watch:

Smithfield in Crete, NC: On Sunday, April 26th, it was announced that nearly 50 employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The facility can process around 11,000 hogs per day.

JBS in Marshalltown, IA: On Tuesday, April 21st, it was announced that 34 employees at the Marshalltown plant tested positive for the coronavirus. The facility can process around 21,000 hogs per day and remains open.

Tyson in Perry, IA: Tyson halted operations at its Perry location on Monday, April 20th for deep cleaning. The facility has since reopened and can process around 7,600 hogs per day.

Smithfield in Tar Heel, NC: An employee at the Smithfield processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, April 18th. This is the largest facility in the United States with a capacity of around 33,500 hogs per day.

Prestage Foods in Eagle Grove, IA: On Saturday, April 18th and Sunday, April 19th, it was confirmed that sixteen employees tested positive for the coronavirus at the plant. The facility can process around 10,000 hogs per day.

Seaboard in Guymon, OK: Seaboard confirmed its first positive coronavirus case at its Guymon location on Monday, April 13th. The plant is still currently operating and can process about 19,600 hogs per day.

Tyson in Madison, NE: Health officials are investigating a possible coronavirus outbreak at the plant. The facility employs around 1,200 people and can process about 8,000 hogs per day.



Poultry Plant Closures:

Homel Foods in Willmar, MN (indefinitely closed): On April 24th, Hormel Foods' Jennie-O Turkey Store announced that it was temporarily closing two facilities in Minnesota after 14 employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

West Liberty Foods in West Liberty, IA: On April 10th, the processing plant closed for three days after three employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The plant processes turkey, beef, pork, and chicken for foodservice and retail. The facility reopened on April 14th.

Empire Kosher Poultry in Mifflintown, PA: On April 3rd, the chicken processing plant closed for two weeks after two employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The facility reopened Monday, April 20th.

Sanderson Farms in Moultrie, Georgia: On April 2nd, it was announced that Sanderson Farms was reducing chicken processing to 1 million birds a week from 1.3 million over the next four weeks at its Moultrie facility.
 
I think the question is more whether production cuts are just because things are closing and eventually reopening after being disinfected (the meat packing) vs having to toss product like your commercial packaging vs are we all eating less, or wasting less?

Or combo probably. ???

At the local level here, there’s not a lot of stuff one can’t get, if you want it. Maybe not a particular brand, but stuff is available. Vagaries of the supply chains I guess.

The restaurants are all doing take out but nowhere near their normal volume levels, but folks are eating... something... I assume.

Seems like maybe we are personally eating less overall, but honestly my egg consumption has gone way up. Since I’m not dashing out the door in the morning, a couple of eggs and maybe another protein or a bit of cheese is often great... toss in the last nights leftover veg if there was some.

And often that does lead to a smaller lunch or just a healthy snack around lunchtime.

Like zero fast food and that’s not normal for me. Not a fast food junkie but usually are the stuff a couple times a week when busy commuting.

But round numbers your numbers look like we cut consumption by a quarter and I don’t think we have cut our calorie consumption by the same. Maybe.

Anyway. Eggs are tasty. :)

Will be buying more than usual for months in this house, I’m sure. A very convenient protein if I’m not sitting in traffic. :)
 
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