Healthy Beef, Food Safety—Beef Safety Consumer Awareness

American consumers are faced with this question everyday. Myths about our food—scares, actually—are a popular tool for advocacy groups because the constant repetition of these myths makes them appear credible to the public. Myths about beef can be traced back to the late 1980s. These myths continue to surface in the media, letters and propaganda, despite the fact that they have been discredited by fact and science. Additionally, advocacy groups are constantly creating new myths that are being circulated by the entire protest-industry community, via internet Web sites and traditional media.Several of the myths that continue to resurface are related to beef safety. Consumer awareness plays a key role in reducing the negative impact these myths have on industry-produced beef. Food safety remains a very high priority for the beef industry and producing healthy beef is at the top of that priority list. Fact—the beef cattle industry is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of beef safety. Consumer protection is taken very seriously by everyone in the beef industry.More often than not, American consumers are forced to distinguish fact from fiction when it comes to the safety of beef. Food safety concerns over whether or not they are buying healthy beef from trustworthy sources rests in the minds of the majority of consumers.BeefMyths.org will serve to help American consumers distinguish fact from fiction by clarifying where possible and offering truth where necessary about the most common and most egregious of these myths.

Popular Beef Myths in Circulation Today

Below are some of the most common topics around which myths are built today. The following list is an attempt to enhance consumer awareness the next time American consumers are forced to distinguish fact from fiction.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Beef
Mad Cow Disease
Beef Production—Amazon Rainforest Deforestation
Beef Cattle—Fugitive Dust Control of Particulate Matter
The Environment and Cattle Production - Fact Sheet
Beef Nutrition Facts—Benefits of Beef Consumption
What Is Mad Cow Disease—History of Mad Cow Disease
Mad Cow Disease Myths—Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease—Mad Cow Disease in Humans
Beef Cattle Production—Growth Hormones in Cattle