Beef: It’s what’s for dinner – Editorial Notebook

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: August 8, 2002

Consider the role of cattle in rhyme.

“How now, brown cow?” “Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the

cow jumped over the moon …” “Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn!

The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn …”

Those were the good old days, when the public saw cows as cute and

benign and beef was part of almost every meal.

Cows and beef play quite differently in modern news stories.

Witness Canadian triathlete Kelly Guest, who tested positive for a

Read Also

A variety of Canadian currency bills, ranging from $5 to $50, lay flat on a table with several short stacks of loonies on top of them.

Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts

As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?

banned substance last week and was disqualified from competition in the

Commonwealth Games.

Distraught, Guest swore he had not deliberately imbibed nandrolene, an

anabolic steroid, to enhance his performance.

How sad for this man. We all want Canadian athletes to distinguish

themselves in international sport. And don’t we all want to believe the

athletes who carry the torch of our national pride can excel without

need or benefit of performance-enhancing drugs?

As Guest cast about for possible causes for his plight, he suggested

the drug might have been contained in beef he had eaten before the

test.

He has since apologized to Canadian cattle producers for the remark – a

gallant gesture that was unfortunately necessary.

For the record – and we’re probably preaching to the choir here – beef

does not contain nandrolene. The drug is not used by Canadian livestock

producers, is not approved for use on livestock and is not generally

available.

Nandrolene is produced naturally in the human body and is also used to

treat humans for testosterone deficiency, osteoporosis and breast

cancer.

It may also be included in supplements and health products used by

athletes in their training diets. It is not found in beef.

It’s irksome that Guest fingered his food without initial regard for

this fact. Things are serious enough in the cattle business without

remarks that might harm the market.

But in a way Guest has given beef a back-handed endorsement. Remember,

beef has taken some bad raps over the years. It was once blamed for

heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity and maybe even ring around the

collar.

Now athletes including Guest are eating steak three or four times a

week to maintain health and develop their bodies, strength and

endurance.

Those who have always known the goodness of beef should be feeling

pretty smug, but they still have to keep their guards up over

misinformation.

About the author

Barb Glen

Barb Glen

Barb Glen is the livestock editor for The Western Producer and also manages the newsroom. She grew up in southern Alberta on a mixed-operation farm where her family raised cattle and produced grain.

explore

Stories from our other publications