USDA Parasite Game

Okay, that’s kind of gross, so let’s move on…to the USDA parasite game. Every year or so, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tests retail meat to see how infested the flesh of farmed animals are. It’s up to you to guess just how infested. Greater than 50%, or less than 50%?

First up, the detection of Sarcocystis parasites in retail U.S. beef. This is what they look like in the meat, and sliced through under a microscope. So, what do you think? Greater than 50% of U.S. retail meat samples infested with this parasite? Or less than 50%?

Well, they fed beef to dogs, and the bad news is that parasites were “excreted by nearly every dog fed beef samples originating in the United States, suggesting near-universal bovine infection.” So, they assumed the prevalence in the U.S. beef supply was around 95%—so, definitely greater than 50%. The good news is that the particular strain they found seems to infect only dogs.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• B. Pritt, T. Trainer, L. Simmons-Arnold, M. Evans, D. Dunams, and B. M. Rosenthal. Detection of sarcocystis parasites in retail beef: A regional survey combining histological and genetic detection methods. J. Food Prot., 71(10):2144-2147, 2008.

• animal studies
• beef
• parasites
• USDA