current safety of eating beef in Europe

Actually, BSE was not isolated to the British Isles. As a government official, my father supervised a number of German slaughterhouses that dealt with thousands of cattle suspected of BSE.

In fact, anybody who spent 6 months or more total in Western Europe over the past 20 years is excluded from donating blood in Canada for that reason.

That said, I haven't heard anything about this recently and assume it's quite safe to eat beef products.

I believe the mad cow scare was isolated to British Beef. The rest of the EU had no problems with their own meat.

The "height" of the Mad Cow scare involved a few cases per million of BSE, and you are now more likely to contract the spontaneous, non-infectious form of the disease (Kreutzfeld-Jacob). Properly prepared beef in Europe is now just as safe as it ever was.

It's old news, and yet still fun when traveling in Britain to tell tourists you don't like that BSE stands for "British Stamp of Excellence" (like our US Grade A beef) and advise them that they should demand BSE beef wherever they go.

Beatrix is correct. No-one in my family is allowed to give blood (U.S.) for that reason- we lived in Germany in the 70's and 80's. That said, we had a "Mad Cow" scare from a cow that came from Canada a few years back, so rolling my eyes a little at that rule. I assume it is just as safe to eat there as it is here.

I had a fine steak dinner in Switzerland last night, so hopefully there are no BSE concerns. There's been nothing in the news concerning BSE for a long time.

Cheers!

Steak-Dinner-Switzerland...did you have to takeout a second mortgage on your house:)

Isn't rosti just potatoes?

Myself, I'll take some raclette.

Ever since the scare I just stay clear of beef.And becuz of it has weaned me away from red meat in USA to once every 2 wks, a gd thing for health. Also realize that many menus indicate meat and do not tell you what kind. It is usually horsemeat. But your question re safe beef, I have not heard of any probs.

For goodness sake,, most menus do tell you exactly what you are ordering, you just don't seem to be able to translate.. and NO its not horsemeat.

Horsemeat is expensive and not given away as anonomus meat,, where on earth do you get off posting such nonsense.

I just woke up and drinking my 1st cup of coffee. Almost ruined my keyboard laughing about those pesky Europeans sneaking horsemeat onto the menu instead of beef.

Michael,

The steak dinner was a bit "pricey" but I decided to have a "splurge" night. The cost was moderated a bit as the Swiss Franc is worth less than the Canadian dollar.

Steve,

I had Rosti also. There were several versions on the menu and I chose the one with Bacon and one egg on top.

On the subject of horse meat, I've seen that on the menu at Manora restaurants in Locarno, but it wasn't offered when I was at Manora in Lugano about a week ago (perhaps it's offered "when available")?

Cheers!

"Also realize that many menus indicate meat and do not tell you what kind. It is usually horsemeat." Yes, they sneak it in there using terms like "Cheval au pauvre" or "fillet van paarden". Damn, those Europeans must be really devious, printing menus in their own languages so that unsuspecting Americans end up ordering horse meat!

I remember visiting a friend in England during the height of the BSE problem, and in the grocery store, we noticed meat marked "VF" for "viande francaise" (French meat). We looked at each other and started laughing, having had the same thought at the same time: VF could also stand for "vache folle"--mad cow.

On the other topic here: There might actually be some shortage of horsemeat now, since the US passed the horse slaughter ban a few years ago. Many of the horses slaughtered in the US in the past were a source of meat for Europe, but this source has now disappeared.

Funny story, since we're talking about horsemeat.... A friend was traveling with his wife in northern Italy, where they stopped at a restaurant for dinner. He doesn't speak Italian, the waiter didn't speak English. He was trying to figure out what kind of meat was in the dish he wanted, so he started making animal noises (mooing, oinking, etc.). The waiter kept shaking his head. My friend was stumped. As a joke, he started neighing and stomping his foot. The waiter emphatically nodded.

He ordered something else.

Pigs are considered very intelligent animals,, but you all seem to eat them. Geesh, horse isn't bad.

Italian beef is fantastic if obtained in a reputable restaurant. Look for "chianina" beef especially in Tuscany, it's delicious, expensive, yes, but delicious.

I was in England once during a big mad cow scare. I was surprised/disappointed that the price of beef went up. I figured less people buying beef would make the cost go down. It wasn't till I got back that I discovered major herds of cattle had been destroyed, reducing the supply and uping the cost of beef.

I don't worry about any health scares. If you really want to live forever, you'd never climb into a car, cross a street or go out in the sun - let alone participate in less dangerous activity like swimming or eating beef.

It has been a few years since the mad cow crisis, it has been a while since I last heard of it at all. Horsemeat is much nicer than beef and also more expensive so it is most unlikely for Americans that are uncapable to translate the menu from the country they visit to be served horse steak without them wanting it. I recommend them to ask for it and see for themselves how nice it tastes. The only place you really don't know what you eat is at a famous hamburger restaurant, all the smaller businesses do mind the health of their clients here in Europe!!

by the way I have a nice peace of 4 kg of horse steak in my fridge right now!! No hormones, no mad horse, no colourants and whatever else they do with beef. And it has more proteins as well. Try it, it's great!

I’m going to guess that your risk of contracting BSE from eating animals here is at least as high (probably higher) as it would be from eating animals in Europe. Frankly, U.S. & Canadian government and industry measures put in place to mitigate infection and food supply contamination are window dressing for public consumption. There are reasons Japan and other countries ban our beef, and it has nothing to do with protecting Kobe beef. I know it’s weird, but they apparently don’t like spinal cord chunks, spinal fluid, and bits of brain in their beef. And, BSE should probably be the least of your concerns in this area anyway. Heart disease and cancer are infinitely bigger killers, and both can be traced directly back to eating meat. Still, if you’re a meat eater here, I don’t see any reason not to eat beef in Europe (but try the horse by all means).

Forget the cow, I think it would be great to try hoarse meat. I'm traveling back to France this fall and can't wait to eat escargot again.

James - sorry it was a typo. Unless of course, Mr. Ed has a distant relative out there with a case of laryngitis....I'm all for equal opportunity at the slaughter house.

I think it's been at least 10 years or more since the crisis. I haven't heard anything either. I get the impression that they've got a handle on the situation. Apparently, the U.S. immigration people aren't taking any chances though. When I arrived home from a trip to the UK, I heard an announcement asking that anyone who had contact with livestock there to tell I forgot who. I trampled around the countryside quite a bit and in areas that had cow pats (although I did my best to avoid them). So, in my conversation with whoever the offical person was, I found out that they were only concerned if I was going to have contact with any livestock in the U.S. I live in an urban area though.

So, I guess the danger is over, the food supply is safe and they just want to keep it that way.

Oh, and I did eat beef while over there, on both trips, back just after the scare was over and this last time. I'm fine. :)

"When I arrived home from a trip to the UK, I heard an announcement asking that anyone who had contact with livestock there to tell I forgot who." They're not concerned about BSE with this announcement, they're trying to screen out people who are at risk of possibly carrying a communicable livestock disease (like hoof and mouth disease, which doesn't make humans sick, but humans can carry and transmit it to animals) or human-livestock zoonoses, like tularemia, brucellosis, equine encephalitis, etc.

I had a lovely Scottish sirloin steak last night here in Fortrose. It was very good and no worries. Two others at our table had beef as well. No one is even thinking about it. Pam

OK Tom. I had never heard the announcement before the scare so I concluded it had to do with the BSE scare.