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Good to know. Will keep that in mind when I'm grocery shopping.
See, you read the article linked in the original post, you read the responses in the thread, you learn something.
Wish more people would do that.
I am not able to get grass fed beef in my local supermarkets. On the occasions that I do purchase beef, I pick it up in the health food market or farmers market. I have read that it is a good idea to purchase the beef and grind it up yourself as this insures that you know what is in it. Alhtough the places that supply grass fed and organic beef are very reputable as they have very stringent standards to meet.
Conversely, grass-fed cattle have a healthy stomach acidity, which means that even if by rare chance you are exposed to E. coli, their stomach’s natural acidity will kill the bacteria. Furthermore, since grass-fed cattle are kept apart from any grain-fed cattle at harvest time, there is no chance that they will be contaminated once they leave the pasture.
No E. Coli or Mad Cow Disease in Grass-Fed Beef: Forage-Fed Beef Abundant in Nutrients and Conjugated Linoleic Acid | Suite101.com (http://food-facts.suite101.com/article.cfm/no_e_coli_or_mad_cow_disease_in_grassfed_beef - broken link)
This is false. E coli is a bacteria that is naturally found in the gut of animals including humans. The problem occurs when mixing occurs between feces (cow dung) and meat in processing plants and farms.Ground beef carries a higher risk of containing e coli because it can contain unfavorable parts such as parts of the cow's GI tract that would increase the chances of e coli. This is different than steak because steak is taken directly from a portion of the cow that isn't ground with other unknown parts of the cow. Buying grass fed beef changes nothing since E coli is a bacteria naturally found in the gut of cows regardless of what they eat.
I'm a physician and I still eat hamburgers. The key is to cook them. I eat steak medium to medium rare but ground beef is a different story and you should thoroughly cook your ground beef. As long as you cook your ground beef thoroughly, it doesn't matter if E coli is in it. It will die with proper temperatures. The problem that occurred with Jack in the Box is they received contaminated meat but they were not thoroughly cooked either. This was back in the day where people thought it was safe to eat hamburgers cooked medium.
Most fast food restaurants are probably safer than restaurant made hamburgers because the fast food industry has strict guidelines with regards to preparing ground beef. However a restaurant will still ask "How do you want your burger prepared" meaning you can get it pink in the middle which increases your risk of getting E coli.
BTW, the Sergeant never did get E-coli. That was in 1954 and few people had heard of such a thing yet, though.
There have been some radical changes in meat production since 1954.
Generally speaking, I am not a person who tends to get squeamish about food processing stories but after reading this story in the New York Times I've had to seriously reconsider my love of the great American hamburger.
The processor of ground beef buys scraps like a 50/50 mix of fat and scrap meat, from one slaughterhouse, combines it with products from another, grinds them together and sends them off to the appropriate customer.
At only one step in the process is the meat inspected, sometimes when meat is found to be contaminated the processor has no idea where the contaminated portions came from.
Geez, after reading the first few paragraphs of this story, I don't ever want to eat a burger again. Couldn't read much more than that, b/c the thought of never eating another of my husband's awesome burgers makes me sad.
I dunno, the article really didn't bother (or surprise) me that much. It's also worth noting that there is also a risk of getting E. coli from vegetables like spinach, which is how my friend thinks she got it a few years ago. She still eats beef and spinach.
Quote:
Originally Posted by newtoli
Can you provide a link that states there are laws that specify you cannot get a rare hamburger or seafood?
I travel all over the country and eat out on a regular basis and have never encountered this... and I order all my beef rare.
I've heard friends in North Carolina complain that they can't get a burger cooler than medium well, and a friend from Long Island also said that the restaurants there wouldn't cook a burger below a certain temperature (but then again, she doesn't eat beef, so I'm not sure about the validity of her claim).
I did find NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources rule 15A NCAC 18A .2609:
Quote:
(e) Potentially hazardous foods requiring cooking shall be cooked to heat all parts of the food to a temperature of at least 140° F (60° C) except as follows:
Quote:
(1) poultry, poultry stuffings, stuffed meats, and stuffings containing meat shall be cooked to heat all parts of the food to at least 165° F (74°C) with no interruption of the cooking process, and
(2) pork and any food containing pork shall be cooked to heat all parts of the food to at least 150° F (66° C), and
(3) ground beef and foods containing ground beef shall be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 155° F (68° C)
I can't verify the NY one, but there could also be county laws instead of state laws, or the restaurants in general refuse to cook below a certain temperature. All I know is, they were happy to come visit Virginia and get a rare burger or steak.
Last edited by akorosdc; 10-13-2009 at 01:33 PM..
Reason: Can't get the quote to cooperate
In regard for food safety.... they can pass as many food safety regulations as they want, does anyone actually think most places pay attention to them? I'm currently FoodSafe certified and when I took the course and test I nearly laughed out loud because it's rare someone follows these regulations. Of course, when we know the inspector is coming we make everything pretty but there just isn't enough time to quickly AND safely produce food for many places.
If you work at a restaurant and the bossman is telling you to speed up AT ANY COST or lose your job, you're going to skirt around these regulations. And yet...most people are still okay.
It's nice that they want to push these regulations, but I'd be surprised if most food places actually follow them.
Because OP compared it to another article where she just read the headline without reading the actual article
Oh...well I can understand that...words are hard…sometimes it’s easier to just look at the pictures and guess. Took me all of second grade to figure out how to pronounce "yacht" that damn word still haunts me
One person who has said "no" to burgers is Bill Marler, an expert on foodborne illness litigation. Marler has been litigating on this issue since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993.
In regard for food safety.... they can pass as many food safety regulations as they want, does anyone actually think most places pay attention to them? I'm currently FoodSafe certified and when I took the course and test I nearly laughed out loud because it's rare someone follows these regulations. Of course, when we know the inspector is coming we make everything pretty but there just isn't enough time to quickly AND safely produce food for many places.
If you work at a restaurant and the bossman is telling you to speed up AT ANY COST or lose your job, you're going to skirt around these regulations. And yet...most people are still okay.
It's nice that they want to push these regulations, but I'd be surprised if most food places actually follow them.
They absolutely follow these guidelines otherwise they will face a class action law suit and go out of business. You better believe companies do the best they can to ensure the quality and safety of their meat. The problem is that providing contaminated free meat 100% of the time is an impossible task. This is why people need to become educated so that they are aware of any risks they take by eating undercooked meat.
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