Meat we eat

In new rules promulgated by the FDA, meat processors will no longer be allowed to slaughter 'downer cows' into hamburger. Said cows are those which are unable to walk on their own. "You know what this whole mad cow scare will do?" Cris said.

"Keep American beef from being exported to other countries, thus lowering the price here," I answered. We were reading at the breakfast table. We both have the day off.

"Besides that," she said. "You know where all these 'downer cows' come from? They're injured in the course of transporting them. That's where most of them come from, broken legs, not illness."

"I didn't know that," I said. "You know, if you had your own blog, you could post such pithy observations."

"You post it," she said. "But you know what it will do? It will make ranchers and meat processors improve the whole process of transporting and slaughtering cows, because if they can't market the ones with broken legs, they'll want to improve the process to minimize loss."