In a follow up on its Sunday story (which I blogged) about testing ground meat, the New York Times writes:
In an expanding effort by the meat industry to make its hamburger safe, officials at the retail giant Costco said Wednesday that they had struck a new accord on testing for the pathogen E. coli.
Costco’s food safety director, Craig Wilson, said the company would begin buying beef trimmings for making hamburger from Tyson, one of the largest beef producers, after an agreement reached with Tyson this week that allows Costco to test the trimmings before they are mixed with those from other suppliers.
About the contaminated meat that so injured the woman in the New York Times story last Sunday, the Times notes:
…Like other hamburger grinders, Cargill tests its ground beef for the pathogen only after it mixes trim from multiple suppliers, and Cargill officials told the U.S.D.A. that they could not identify the slaughterhouse that shipped the tainted beef in Ms. Smith’s burger, company and government records showed. Slaughterhouses are viewed as the most likely source of E. coli because the pathogen emerges from fecal matter on hides and in the digestive tracts of cattle.
Insufficient. I’m taking your lead, NMC, and passing on ground beef from sources like these from here on out.
Those in the Jackson area may be interested that Fresh Market in Ridgeland says it grinds its own ground beef from steaks and roasts.
I suppose the same is true of Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe wheresoever ye may find it.
Just all the more reason to continue deer hunting, having my own harvested deer processed, and consuming ground venison and other venison meat cuts from a local processor that I trust. Not only does it taste better than beef, it is better for you.
After reading all of this stuff re the Tyson “sitiation” and how some of the ground beef out there is processed, I’ve about lost my appetite for it. Yuck.
I’m with AFOTL. I still remember the first time my oldest boys, then in their early teens, ate store bought hamburger meat at a friend’s cook out. They took one or two bites and began spiting it out, asking what it was and thinking it was it some kind of bad joke and exclaiming it was nasty. Which it was. And still is. If we have a need for ground meat for tacos or spaghetti we buy a roast or steak and have it ground up. Less waste and better tasting.