Liver, the good, the bad, and the smelly

[Guittarman03]

In light of my recent ordeal with food poisoning which I'm almost positive was caused by inorganic chicken liver, I thought I'd open some discussion on your experiences and opinions regarding liver.  Here's what I have so far: 

Pros:
-TONS of A and B vitamins, which is great for energy and muscle building
-High in some of those trace minerals like zinc and copper
-Perhaps one of the most nutrient dense animal foods out there.  Definitely on the top 5 list. 

Cons:
-Filter of the animal, so toxins tend to accumulate there in greater quantities than elsewhere
-So even if organic, there's still some chance of eating some toxic liver (though much reduced if organic)
-(personal) I'm having trouble finding fresh organic liver the last month

So I bought some chicken liver which wasn't organic, and I got food poisoning from it.  Frustrating.  But I'm all better now and I'm still not deterred from liver, but I'm going to make sure to buy only organic from now on.  Except maybe not.  I came across some calf liver today, and though not organic, the calf was slaughtered before ever being weened from milk, and neither it nor the mother were given antibiotics or growth hormone.  So though the diet of the mother cow may not be ideal grass fed, I would think the milk it produces would be filtered from most toxins anyways.  In addition, I think cows are raised in more sanitary conditions that chickens (not sure though, feel free to educate me), and at least cows aren't fed soy like chickens - which can only be fed to chickens if first cooked (again, feel free to educate me if I am incorrect).  Keep in mind, this is all coming from Whole Foods.

One last question, when liver starts to smell strongly after a few days in the fridge, is it still good to eat?  Is it a personal preferrence thing, or is it not a great idea to eat liver that is starting to expire?

Thoughts?   

[JaX]

Liver is a food I personally stay away from, no matter how organic it is.

Sure it might be the first thing that natural carnivores eat when they catch another animal in the wild, and yes it's full of valuable vitamins, but for humans in the 21st century, it's not an optimal food in my opinion.

I don't know if you are aware of this but analysis have been carried out testing animal fat for toxins. All animal fat has some toxins to a certain extent today, it's impossible to avoid. Dioxin is found in something like 9 out of 10 organic egg brands (just Google "organic eggs dioxin" and "animal fat dioxin"). The amount in eggs, though, might be negligible. And I'm only using dioxin as an example for accumulation, dioxin might not be the worst toxin in food.

But then there is the liver. The organ which handles all toxins, filters and stores. Conversion from conventional farming to organic takes 2 years. It means that if you buy organic beef, that beef might well have been fed antibiotics, GMO food, hormones, injections, vaccinations and grain 3 years ago. That might not be important, though, since cells regenerate and toxins from conventional farming would not be in the animal after 2 years - especially in the liver, which is one of the fastest regenerating organs (I think the human liver renews itself so fast that you have a brand new liver every few weeks or less). With that said, the liver still contains an enormous amount of compounds/substances, by-products, waste-products, toxins, much more than any other organ or muscle meat I believe. And even organic farming is not 100% "bulletproof", if you look at the rules for organic farming you'll see that most countries require 95% or less of the food fed to animals to be organic and the cows don't have to be 100% grassfed. And it's far from required that the cows have access to outside pastures year round.

There is no magical nutrient found in liver which is not found in the other organs of animals. Liver also contains glycogen, making it a no-no for zero carbers.

I've heard of too many people who had bad experiences with raw liver so I'm not consuming it myself. I really see no reason.

If you really like liver and want to consume it, do it rarely in my opinion.

[boxcarguy07]

I tend to disagree with seeker...

I think that the human body is built to withstand a certain amount of toxins, and that liver from healthy animals is perfectly fine to eat. In fact more than perfectly fine.

To me, raw liver is one of the best energy producing foods there is. My body can certainly tell when I've eaten it.

Seeker does have a point though re: the difference between organic and 100% grass-fed. However, if it is indeed from a calf raised in the conditions you are describing, well, it's up to you.
I personally wouldn't eat it, just because if I'm going to be eating raw meat anything, it's going to be from 100% grass-fed. But as for as the toxin level is concerned, it is probably not too high.

[Raw Kyle]

I would never ever eat the glands or organs from a non-organic animal. In fact just to be safe I'd stay away from organic grain fed as well. You don't need to be eating organs every week, or even every month. If you were able to..say..get a bunch of good organs from grass fed animals one month and ate a lot of it, and then only ate meat and fat for the next month, I think you'd be fine. Much better than taking the chance of eating a polluted liver.

[Sully]

Liver also contains glycogen, making it a no-no for zero carbers.

There are many people who eat only animal foods and eat plenty of liver....  Isn't Lex one of them?

[RawZi]

    I ate chicken liver after it got all tangy and bubbly.  I felt fine afterwards.  I don't do it frequently. 

[avalon]

Yum! Tangy and Bubbly 

[goodsamaritan]

Aajonus has shared his experience in his book about non-organic animal liver.  He suggests to eat only from organic animals.

I did get food poisoning from a chicken liver 2 weeks ago.  But I have not gotten food poisoning from goat and beef liver yet.

[Guittarman03]

I tried the calf's liver yesterday and no problems so far, I feel pretty good.  I tried to pay alot of attention to taste and intuition and seemed to like it alot, so I ate a good 5-7 ounces.  Also I ate like 2 1/2 - 3 lbs of short ribs yesterday.  I think my body is trying to rebuild from getting totally jacked for like 3 days.  Thanks for the replies.     

[feral]

I've had a fair amount of difficulty finding raw meat, especially to start this diet.  I didn't want to decide to try raw meat, and just order a ton online, which meant I had to make do with what I could find in the store.  For some stupid reason, I assumed that the meat at New Seasons was grassfed, and did not bother asking.

I also figured their chicken and the applicable liver was from a decent source.  It was from a 'natural' farm.  I ate about 3 lbs worth over a month's time, and had no issues.  I thought, and still do, that the benefit I received from the extra nutrients out-weighed the possible risk.  In my brief experience, muscle meat does not supply enough nutrition.  On the other hand, I didn't get any food poisoning, or I would likely be singing a different tune .

On a side note, once I started getting grassfed beef, I couldn't stand to finish off the grain fed steaks I had.  Their texture is horrifying.