Beef and Buffalo Sensitivities

[Rosie]

You never know where problems can crop up. I've suspected for a while that I am sensitive to beef.......not dramatically sensitive, but I get gas and looser stools whenever I eat it, so have been avoiding it. Several days ago, I noticed ground buffalo in the store, and decided to try it for hamburgers since I'm avoiding beef. Imagine my surprise when I had a reaction to the buffalo! Since I haven't had buffalo in years, I couldn't imagine that I would be sensitive to it. However, a bit of research revealed that most buffalo have been crossed with cows, readily explaining my reaction.......who would have thunk!

from Wikipedia
Since American Bison seem to cross breed readily with domestic cattle, many crosses have occurred, either deliberately or accidentally. The result is that, of the estimated 500,000 bison now present in North America, it is believed that only 15,000 to 25,000 are purebred bison, without any known domestic cattle genes. Furthermore, many crosses of bison and cattle produce animals which appear very much like normal bison, so appearance is not a good indicator of which animals are hybrids and which are not. This creates problems in establishing and maintaining new purebred bison herds. Some bison, such as the Antelope Island Bison Herd have only a few cattle genes, but almost all state herds have similar genetic contamination and most private herds are even more strongly hybridized.

Rosie