Twenty-two-year-old Stephanie Smith was a children's dance instructor until an E. coli–tainted burger caused her such severe symptoms that she had to be put in a coma for nine weeks. When she awoke, she was paralyzed from the waist down. Michael Moss of the New York Timestraces the journey of the burger patties made of beef from four different plants processed by Cargill, and uncovers the flaws of beef inspection by describing how E. coli can spread during processing and the measures being taken to prevent contamination.
So then is buying ground beef from the grocery store OK? I don't generally buy the frozen patties because I don't have room in the freezer for them and I don't like the taste either. I also have a friend who raises cattle and has said I could buy a whole cow, 1/2 of one or 1/4 of one but again, don't have the freezer space to store all that meat. So what's better? Just buying meat and grinding it ourselves? Or having a butcher do it? Giving up on hamburgers is just not an option here! :)
I gave up burgers about 2 years ago when the e-coli incidents were on the rise; the NY Times did an excellent job of reporting then too. This article details that even bulk packaged ground sirloin is mixed from multiple sources, not all of which is actually sirloin - it's not just patties. So even though relatives and friends have been bugging me about being unnecessarily worried, and I have really been longing for a nice juicy burger at BBQs and restaurants, I'm most certainly going to stick to my ban on pre-ground beef.
i gave up on buying ground meat from the supermarket years ago, but i haven't given up on burgers. i go to a butcher and ask him to grind the meat fresh for me, usually chuck or sirloin for burgers.
years ago, after a few hours of driving by an enormous feedlot in nebraska, my husband stopped eating commercial beef. Shortly thereafter, having read a New Yorker piece on mad cow disease, I stopped too. Since then, we'ver rarely had any beef -- and only if we are assured by the local natural foods store that it comes from a no antibiotics, grass fed, local butchering etc. situation.
As long as most americans are happy to go to mcdonalds and the like and to eat hamburgers over and over again, there won't be any changes, even though there are probably lots of people who are injured.
I know that ecoli has also been found in organic grown spinach (which I'm still buying), and to a certain extent there will always be some danger in the food supply, it probably can't be completely eliminated. But ground beef has been such a frequent problem that I am surprised that people can't seem to break the habit.
Moral of the story, go to a butcher (or the butcher counter at a supermarket) and get fresh ground beef, ground in store if not in front of your eyes. At the supermarket by my parents house, this option is only about $0.50 more per pound than the shrink wrapped stuff.
to me the saddest thing of all is that all of these poor animals had to die without the respect they deserve. a while back in the northeast 5 million pounds of ground beef had to be destroyed because of this sort of thing. that's a lot of big brown eyes.
i'm not a vegetarian - but i do buy my meat from local farms where i know the animals are being treated humanely. i always eat my burgers which we cook at home RARE. it's not costing me an arm & a leg either...(no pun intended).... if you're able to find a local source, find it. they're out there.....
@pooch: I agree. I'm not a vegetarian but I consider myself a wildlife activist---priority of treating animals with respect is another way of respecting what you put in your body! Its the tmple of your soul afterall :) and for the sake of the lil'thing!
I like all my meats rare if I can attest to the source being reliable too
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14 Comments:
This is some serious news. I am thinking of giving up the burger.
Tallula Hamburger at 12:10PM on 10/05/09
Very scary shit.
I've bought frozen patties for convenience sake, to take camping before. Never again.
syd888 at 12:57PM on 10/05/09
Glad I prefer the taste of well done.
ratbuddy at 1:01PM on 10/05/09
So then is buying ground beef from the grocery store OK? I don't generally buy the frozen patties because I don't have room in the freezer for them and I don't like the taste either. I also have a friend who raises cattle and has said I could buy a whole cow, 1/2 of one or 1/4 of one but again, don't have the freezer space to store all that meat. So what's better? Just buying meat and grinding it ourselves? Or having a butcher do it? Giving up on hamburgers is just not an option here! :)
SabrinaFaire at 1:01PM on 10/05/09
I gave up burgers about 2 years ago when the e-coli incidents were on the rise; the NY Times did an excellent job of reporting then too. This article details that even bulk packaged ground sirloin is mixed from multiple sources, not all of which is actually sirloin - it's not just patties. So even though relatives and friends have been bugging me about being unnecessarily worried, and I have really been longing for a nice juicy burger at BBQs and restaurants, I'm most certainly going to stick to my ban on pre-ground beef.
MMinNYC at 1:16PM on 10/05/09
If this doesn't scare us all into vegetarianism, I don't know what will.
CEBakes at 1:35PM on 10/05/09
i gave up on buying ground meat from the supermarket years ago, but i haven't given up on burgers. i go to a butcher and ask him to grind the meat fresh for me, usually chuck or sirloin for burgers.
eater at 1:55PM on 10/05/09
Related:
http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/10/do-you-know-where-your-hamburg-is-coming-from.html
hmw0029 at 1:56PM on 10/05/09
@hmw0029: Thanks for pointing out the talk topic! I'll add it to the post.
Also, Young and Hungry pulled out some key quotes from the article.
Robyn Lee at 2:02PM on 10/05/09
years ago, after a few hours of driving by an enormous feedlot in nebraska, my husband stopped eating commercial beef. Shortly thereafter, having read a New Yorker piece on mad cow disease, I stopped too. Since then, we'ver rarely had any beef -- and only if we are assured by the local natural foods store that it comes from a no antibiotics, grass fed, local butchering etc. situation.
As long as most americans are happy to go to mcdonalds and the like and to eat hamburgers over and over again, there won't be any changes, even though there are probably lots of people who are injured.
I know that ecoli has also been found in organic grown spinach (which I'm still buying), and to a certain extent there will always be some danger in the food supply, it probably can't be completely eliminated. But ground beef has been such a frequent problem that I am surprised that people can't seem to break the habit.
elisabeth58 at 2:12PM on 10/05/09
I prefer to make my own from scratch at all costs from my local trusted farmer.
preference is typically overshadowed by the extremity of the economy right now and its refelction on my finances so I don't usually get to do this,
Interesting post!
hungrychristel at 2:48PM on 10/05/09
Moral of the story, go to a butcher (or the butcher counter at a supermarket) and get fresh ground beef, ground in store if not in front of your eyes. At the supermarket by my parents house, this option is only about $0.50 more per pound than the shrink wrapped stuff.
ESNY1077 at 4:30PM on 10/05/09
to me the saddest thing of all is that all of these poor animals had to die without the respect they deserve. a while back in the northeast 5 million pounds of ground beef had to be destroyed because of this sort of thing. that's a lot of big brown eyes.
i'm not a vegetarian - but i do buy my meat from local farms where i know the animals are being treated humanely. i always eat my burgers which we cook at home RARE. it's not costing me an arm & a leg either...(no pun intended).... if you're able to find a local source, find it. they're out there.....
pooch at 10:35PM on 10/05/09
@pooch: I agree. I'm not a vegetarian but I consider myself a wildlife activist---priority of treating animals with respect is another way of respecting what you put in your body! Its the tmple of your soul afterall :) and for the sake of the lil'thing!
I like all my meats rare if I can attest to the source being reliable too
hungrychristel at 2:05PM on 10/06/09