Almost all ground beef is contaminated enough to make you sick.
By Rob Quinn Published August 25, 2015 on Newser.
I don’t know Rob Quinn, the writer of this article for Newser, but I think this information is too important not to pass along. If you are a meat eater, it is far better to choose a steak than anything with ground beef. Did you know that most commercial ground beef is not from one cow? It can be from several cows, say four or five different cows, and cows from different countries all blended together into one beef patty or meatloaf! That’s one reason why E. coli is so difficult to detect in ground beef. The inspector may insert his test strip into the top of a beef patty, which is clean, but the nasty bacteria could be in the lower half of the patty, meat completely from a different cow, from a different country, all blended into one patty. So, the inspector checked the patty, but missed the part with the bacteria…just a little something to think about, or shall I say, chew on!
The article from Fox News, reprinted from Newser.
A close look at ground beef reveals some pretty disturbing stuff, a Consumer Reports (VIDEO within Consumer Reports) investigation found. Some 300 packages containing 458 pounds of ground beef were bought at stores of all kinds in 26 cities, and every single one contained fecal contamination.
That’s more than just gross: It can cause serious illness when beef isn’t cooked to the recommended 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Any meat can make you sick if not cooked properly, Consumer Reports notes, but ground beef is especially risky because cows raised on crowded feedlots tend to have manure on their skin, which contains bacteria that can end up in the meat during processing—and bacteria from one cow can end up mixed with that of many other cows.
The testing also revealed antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” in some of the meat, though they were a lot less prevalent in beef labeled “grass-fed organic,” which tended to have less bacteria overall.
Experts advise consumers to buy sustainably raised beef when they can—and always make sure it’s cooked all the way through. “Remember, when it’s ground beef, you’re taking it and grinding the bacteria from the surface of the beef into it,” Consumer Reports‘ director for food safety tells CBS (VIDEO)
“So unlike a steak, you’re really moving all that bacteria all around the beef. So it’s especially important for ground beef, to cook it to 160 degrees to be absolutely safe.” (Health officials say “cannibal sandwiches” are a very bad idea.)
Phebe and Mac enjoy long road trips, with very little planning or advance reservations. This summer, they drove almost 7000 miles in 20 days, through nine states…Fun!!!
Leave a Reply