In follow up to comment #32, Sallie Fallon in her book, Nourishing Traditions 2d ed has a chapter on “Raw Meat Appetizers” and she states on page 231, “The problem of parasites in beef or lamb is easily solved. Simply freeze the meat for 14 days. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, this will kill off all parasites.” She also states that parasitic infections are common in Japanese and Koreans who frequently eat raw fish, so parasitic infection from raw flesh must be taken seriously and then because fish flesh texture does not handle freezing well she recommends to prevent parasite infection from fish, “to marinate or ferment fish in an acid solution of lemon juice, lime juice or whey. This will effectively kill off all parasites and pathogens and will serve to predigest the fish as well.”

Porter

Hi Porter–

Makes sense.  I had just never heard of it.  I do know that some parasites have a cystic stage that is very difficult to kill, even by freezing.

Best–

MRE

On #29 Sue’s comment. I believe Sallie Fallon recommends raw meat/fish dishes and she says that freezing the food first for a number of days will kill any parasites that they may contain.

Porter

Hi Porter–

I don’t know if I agree with that or not.  I need to look into it when I get some time.  I know freezing doesn’t kill all parasites, but I don’t know whether or not it kills all parasites that one might find in liver.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Paul–

It is indeed nice.  I’ll post it as soon as I can.  The blogworthy material is stacking up.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi gallier2–

You are right.  I’ve got an entire post sort of ready in my head on this very issue.  I just need to get it down on electrons.

Best–

MRE 

Hi Sue–

This is the first I’ve ever heard of this idea.  It doesn’t make much sense to me.  I’ve eaten fresh liver a zillion times and, as far as I can tell, have never had a problem.  I don’t know what the toxins would be in liver, anyway.

Cheers–

MRE 

Enjoy
Scott

Hi Scott–

Thanks for the info–I’ll give them a try.

Cheers–

MRE 

And #19, Esther: Agree with you totally on the wrongness of manipulating pets’ diets. A few years ago I started adding meat scraps to my dog’s dry food. He loves this, of course, but the vet reacted in horror, saying I needed to watch his fat intake. And watch it I do… go right down his delighted gullet. And here’s the interesting part: The dog had this terrible arthritis problem, limping noticeably, and was on a daily medication. I started feeding him delicious meat fat, scraps, and greasy juice from roasts mixed in with his dry food. Now his coat is shiny again and he acts like a younger dog, and I don’t give him the medication anymore. What is in dog food, even the “science” brands? Lots o’ grain! Dogs are carnivores!

–Anne

When we have fed canned again (due to my bad timing with the chicken grinding), the feces again stink until they are back on the raw chicken.

BTW, am about halfway through the UK doctor’s Great Cholesterol Con book (started yesterday) and find it very entertaining (my mind adds a John Cleese-ian delivery to the text for better or worse, but he does have a humorous style to sucha serious topic).

So for those who would find Colpo’s book of the same title, or Ravnskov’s Cholesterol Myths too daunting with all the facts, figures, and endless studies and statistics or small text, this new book might be just ticket. I mean the book starts out with a Dalek-inspired (Dr. Who robot) quote, “Instatinate, instatinate!” Whats not to like? And I’m not even a Dr. Who fan.

For those who have read the other two books I mentioned, it is a breeze to skim through.

Anna

Hi Anna–

Though I’m not a connoisseur of cat feces, your description makes sense.   I’m sure it is the grain in the canned foods that triggers the odor, since a carnivore’s gut is not designed to digest such.

Cheers–

MRE 

Now read this from todays Telegraph about fat and the healing of the heart.

Hi Simon–

Toms…tomatoes.  I get it.  I love tomatoes, and although they’re a new world food, they taste much better when grown in the old world.  Something in the soil I guess.  I love gazpacho as made in Andalucia.  I got a recipe and tried to make it in the US when we got home (actually, MD tried) and it tasted nothing like the Spanish variety.  We asked a friend of ours from Spain who is a chef how to make it.  He told us that it would never taste the same made with tomatoes grown in the US.  Spanish tomatoes, said he, make all the difference.  He fooled with our recipe and made some changes that made the soup taste like the Andalucian variety despite the American tomatoes.

Cheers–

MRE 

Sheesh.

Hi Walt–

How true, how true.

Cheers–

MRE