Is US beef safe to eat anymore?

[apples and oranges]

I joined the USDA's email alert list to get notified of food recalls and every other day there is a notice about E. Coli in beef. Then I just checked Yahoo News and there's a major story about a beef recall (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091102/ap_on_bi_ge/us_beef_recall). I love cheeseburgers but I'm thinking about giving it up if this continues!

[niyad]

1. hasn't been for years. have you read "fast food nation", amoung others?

I have eaten very little beef for decades--long before the e coli mess, partially because I don't really care for it, and partially because of the antibiotics in the cattle feed.

[still_one]

2. I am a vegetarian, but the fact is if you eat meat you should have it cooked well, or you are taking

a chance.

[Mopar151]

3. Buy local wins again...

Only buy your burger from folks who grind it themselves. This may cost you about a 10% premium, but the taste alone is worth it.

And Rolling Stone put it best : "E-coli means that there is shit on your meat!"

[Kali]

4. don't buy bulk ground beef or premade patties

you will notice if you look that virtually all beef recalls are for mass produced ground beef. Have the inexpensive sale of the week cuts ground, or do it yourself. Better yet find a CSA or other local source and buy froma small farmer/rancher that you can get to know.

Yes the beef is generally safe (as any natural product - LIFE has its risks). Processing tons of mixed source carcasses is more risky. If you must buy that garbage, practice very safe handling and cooking techniques.

[Gman2]

5. Perhaps, as in the kissing thread, kissing a cow for about six months

will develop your immunity to mad cow disease.

[The Straight Story]

7. Well I kissed my first X for 6 months and never got mad cow

:rofl:

[The Straight Story]

6. I just had some and I ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lkjldgh ,nn5xxx

[Lorien]

8. No. When the US government sues a packing plant to STOP testing for mad

cow disease you know that no one is looking out for the public's health (not to mention the antibiotics, hormones, filthy living conditions, animals skinned alive, etc.).

[Warpy]

13. Mad cow is so extremely rare

that if I liked beef, it wouldn't deter me from eating it. Even if it were common enough to be a real concern, the chances can be reduced by buying whole cuts of meat and grinding your own burger. Commercially ground burger is cut too close to the bone and often contains a lot of nerve tissue, prime location for mad cow prions.

There is not much you can do about slaughterhouse conditions beyond finding a farmer who slaughters and dresses his own beef, about as likely as the pope on a pogo stick these days. Kosher beef is more humanely slaughtered (an oxymoron, IMO) as is halal beef. However, most of it is raised with hormones and antibiotics. There are several companies producing organic grass fed beef and most whole food stores carry it. You can avoid a lot of the chemicals in commercially raised beef that way.

[wolfgangmo]

16. I rmember that. The small producer was doing good work and testing to prove it.

The big corporations got ticked off because foreign companies in the EU and Japan were buying their beef and not the big boys who didn't test. So the big companies got the USDA to sue the small producer to stop testing.

I recommend the book Diet for a New America by John Robbins (of Baskin Robbins fame) who used his contacts and influenece to get unprecedented access to factory farms. Great, if disturbing pictures and stories about how food is being manufactored in the US.

[bain_sidhe]

18. That was Creekstone Farms - they raise, slaughter and pack their own

That's the only beef I buy any more. Both in solidarity with their taking on the USDA craven butt-kissing of the larger "factory" farms, and because I like their philosophy about humane and safe cattle management.

http://www.creekstonefarms.com/about-more.html

[slackmaster]

9. Yes, if you buy good beef

The big problems are always with mass factory-produced products. Good beef costs more but it tastes better, it's better for you, and carries less risk of contamination.

[Warpy]

10. Extremely rare beef is not safe any more

and steak tartare should be off the menu. Hamburger has to be cooked thoroughly, no more pink in the center of those burgers.

The safest thing to do is wash whole cuts of meat and grind them at home if you want hamburger.

However, the statistics are with you if you cook your beef properly.

I don't like it, so you can even have my share.

[Vickers]

11. It's probably best to just be scared of everything.

:thumbsup:

[underseasurveyor]

12. I'm not trying to be a jerk, just pointing something out.

Your own post answers your own question.

every other day there is a notice about E. Coli in beef.

checked Yahoo News and there's a major story about a beef recall

It's up to you to decide and think about how many other reports of e. coli that are out there that we haven't heard about yet?

I guess my advice to you is if you are going to eat cheeseburgers make sure that they're well done and even then that still means there's shit in the sandwich, it's just cooked.

[cherokeeprogressive]

14. Properly prepared, it's not only safe, it's TASTY too! n/t

[Arugula Latte]

15. Nope. On the other hand, neither is spinach and many other things.

However, I'll take my chances with spinach. Personally, to me eating beef is just ... well, you know ...

[provis99]

17. No, but neither are vegetables and fruit, either.

Remember the Mexican tomato salmonella scare of the summer? Just one example of how our entire food industry is unsafe now.

[Xenotime]

19. No. We don't eat any form of meat.

[MrsMatt]

20. Yes, BUT, (and it's a big one)

you should take note of how the animal is raised and how the meat is processed. My job requires that I keep up on all aspects of livestock production (however, I neither work for, with or against any industry), including beef production, so I'll give you my informed opinion.

Organic, grass fed beef, locally produced is quite safe. If possible, meet your beef producer and make friends with a local meat processor. It's not only good for you, it's good for the local economy. Barring that, get a meat grinder and grind your own hamburger.

Thoroughly cook ALL meat. I don't always follow this rule re: beef & lamb, but then, I know where my meat is coming from, what those animals are being fed and what medications are administered.