john250":24vznou0 said:
I don't see us becoming "chickenized", but I think cow-calf men (including women) will know the address of the restaurant that serves the steak and the customer will know where you grew up and how many kids you have.
I disagree.. Prepackaged beef sales are increasing, which means that foreign beef sales are increasing without people knowing it. People buy Wal-Mart beef every day but never stop and think "Hey, wait a minute.. They don't have a butcher shop here!?!?! Where'd this come from???" Wal-Mart saves money by selling prepackaged beef, and they turn that savings into reduced consumer prices and increased profit. It won't be long before other retailers fire their butchers and start selling prepackaged beef -- just like is done with chicken now.. Then we'll be even further away from the 'Rockwellian' scenario laid out above..
I don't like it one bit, but I do think that's how it's going to go down.
As far as source verified goes, the big push for that -- as I understood it -- was that it would be a draw for the Asian consumer.. I think a lot of people had been led to believe that Japan was the holy grail of beef markets, and that we'd all be saved if we were allowed to ship to Japan again.
Not so, apparently.
Last I read, the Japanese were turning their noses up at American beef, because they've been made to fear it. They'd rather have Australian beef since it's cheaper than Japanese beef, and since the Aussies have never had a case of Mad Cow.
Maybe mad cow will be a moot point in five years, though..