Is it safe for humans to eat mice???

[dr del]

Hi,

Couple of clarifications/ points to consider.

....
We have the capacity to be on the top of the food chain, and yet we are one of the pickiest animals.

As a species we really aren't picky compared to most of the animal kingdom - it's one of the reasons we spread so well through the various habitats.

That's not to say western culture hasn't become far more selective in what we will or wont eat - but that is purely because we can afford to.

We weren't even supposed to eat meat in the first place, and yet we convinced ourselves meat is good--but only THIS meat, not this one.

Actually we are expressely designed to be able to eat both meat and some vegetable matter - from the shape of our teeth, through the design and length of our digestive tract and the bacteria that colonise them.

In fact we can digest any kind of meat but only a tiny fraction of the plant kingdom.

This omniverous diet is the reason we adapt so well to different ecosystems - we very rarely find one without something we can eat in it.

Pigs eat slop. Leftover spoiled pieces of food. Uh...ew?

Some do - but not many in the western agricultural system. They get specifically formulated and controlled diets designed to promote the insanely fast growth we have selectively bred the animals for.

......However, with disease being a concern--cooking food at high temps will kill most bacteria. Why do we still eat cows remembering "mad cow disease", but we won't eat people?

Most is a highly important word in these circumstances. It does nothing for quite a few problems - including mad cow disease.

Also we most definately do not eat the part of the cows affected by mad cow disease. The brain and spinal cord ( where the pesky prions are that cause the problems ) are completely discarded and any meat contaminated by them is also discarded.

And again - this is because we think it may be able to jump species. It started out as a sheep disease called scrapey ( well over here that's what it is called ) and only jumped to cows when the feed given to cattle had the bodies of those infected sheep added to it.

So far nobody has proven it has ever jumped from sheep to humans though - which is why we don't have mad sheep disease.

I honestly can't say that if, after somebody died and donated their body to be food, I wouldn't at least try it.
All animals can harbor all sorts of diseases, and humans can catch a lot of them, but not if the food is properly handled and cooked...I can't think that human meat would be different, or rodents.

Just make sure you find out what they died from. And, as said, the fact it is human meat means anything it contained can affect humans.

And really there aren't that many diseases of animals that can infect us - that's why we make a big fuss when we find one like HN51 or rabies.

Just a thought. I'm not going to run out and eat frozen snake food, but I do love to ponder some of the psychology behind our reasoning as humans.

It's a good attitude and habit to have - working out what makes us behave the way we do can never be a bad thing. Even if it occasionally makes you want to kick the whole human race in the britches.


del