Love Online

I Love Beef!

Let’s be real….all 8 of my followers probably knew that.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to do more to promote beef in my daily life. Mostly the result of a concept presented by Daren Williams, Executive Director of Communications for NCBA. If 48 people spend 10 minutes per day on beef advocacy, it's the full-time equivalent of one employee working to preserve your way of life.

As a rule my non-confrontational nature and low tolerance for BS (other than my own) has caused me to skip engaging in any online debate. You just don’t know who you’re debating or if they care to learn. Today however, I side-stepped my natural inclination and responded to an online article about E. coli, featured in USA Today.

On the positive the article highlighted some of the great research going on at K-State to fight E. coli problems (Go State!), but it had a concerning lead. As a journalism major (many years ago), I appreciate the need for an eye-catching introduction.

The author reported eating beef in the winter would be better than the summer because researchers have found higher rates of E. coli among cattle in the summer- conjuring images of questionable summer burgers on the grill.

I understand why the woman did this. The author’s work would have seemed less alarming, if she would have immediately (or ever) pointed out a basic in food safety. Cook your ground beef to 160 degrees and there’s no problem.

I added a short comment that said as much after reading what others had to say. As I read the remaining comments I realized I was the only pro-beef voice on the page. One out of 25. And I got scared. The misconceptions were alarming.

It may be only a small example, but Daren is right we need more voices and from the looks of the comment section the lack of knowledge can be scary….maybe even overwhelming. But please don’t be like me. Don’t assume someone else is responding to articles and false information on your behalf.

Perhaps you have ten minutes?