The high cost of cheap hamburger

Cheap hamburger patties can kill you.

Most won't. But if you want a burger and have the money to buy something better, perhaps you should spend it. Because evidence has been mounting for years that factory-processed burgers can be a ticket to a fell lottery. The losers - tens of thousands every year - face sickness, or even death.

The deadly E. coli strain that killed two and led investigators to a Chautauqua County meat plant this week has only dramatized what food activists like Michael Pollan have been saying for years: Cheap food carries costs that American eaters blissfully ignore. And the government agencies charged with keeping consumers safe are no match for the political muscle of the meat business.

A recent New York Times story concluded that "eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe."

Now, food contamination can come from other sources. Outbreaks have been traced to spinach, and scallions. But by far, the biggest culprit, making the most people sick or worse, is factory ground beef, the Times reported. You could argue that the overall numbers are not huge, I suppose, but tell that to the parents of a kid in the hospital with food poisoning.

There's good news for burger lovers, though. Avoiding the dark lottery is simple. Unlike factory patties, beef freshly ground by local butchers or supermarkets has not been routinely linked to E. coli contamination. It's made from better meat, handled in smaller amounts, and sold more quickly.

Nothing is guaranteed not to make you sick, but fresh ground beef is relatively safe. You can also make it yourself with a meat grinder, or pulse cubes of trimmed chuck in a food processor a few times.

If you're interested in ordering non-factory meat from local meat producers, check out our list.

Comments

[pgr88]

Sorry, but Michael Pollan is a farce. He writes for comfortable yuppies who believe difficulty in survival would be one-ply toilet paper. No sane agronomist takes him seriously.

So 2 people died from e-coli in hamburgers? And how many Billions would be dead without anti-biotics, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers?

[LARRY STONE]

I have been fighting to have millions of pounds of contaminated meat recalled that was produced using a warehouse facility that makes the PBA facility look like the Ritz. The pictures I gave to the USDA and the FDA showed RAT fecal matter and rodents nests on food ingredients and materials, I submitted documents to the USDA proving the use of this contaminated warehouse for years and was denied a recall of my own products .Why –to protect a State institution that was contracted to produce this meat for my company.
Agencies state the manufacturer must generate the recall and the FDA and USDA not having the authority to initiate this action as the reason bad food gets into the system .This is not so ,I am proof of this statement not being accurate. Even when the USDA went and found this contaminated warehouse with live rodents they never tested any product for salmonella and co-operated with the state of Florida to use possible contaminated ingredients in further meat processing.
I applaud your very fine story and comments and appeal to you to visit my blog site http://bullstone-larrym.blogspot.com/ and see the evidence of rat fecal contamination in meats produced by an instrument of the State of Florida department of Corrections. I have been battling with the USDA to issue a recall on the millions of pounds of meat the State of Florida produced under contract for my company. This meat was distributed nation wide to schools, supermarkets and institutions. When we discovered that this Florida State division was storing food supplies and edible ingredients in a rat infested warehouse we began our quest to get this information to the public and get accountability placed on those who allowed this to happen. When you read the information on my blog you will see the validity of both our stories .I support your efforts and request your support of mine. Regards Larry Stone