A very important lesson that I learned while getting my Masters of Public Health (I graduate in 2 weeks!) is that just because something is approved by a federal agency (FDA, USDA) does NOT mean it is going to be 100% safe. This is especially true with food products. The New York Times (clearly my newspaper of choice) has been running some very interesting articles about meat production in the United States. This week's article is about a young woman who contracted E. coli from eating a hamburger. She became so ill that doctors put her in a coma and when she awoke she was paralyzed.
I don't want to get on a soapbox but it seems that I have to. The article points out that ground beef is the usual suspect in E.coli infections because the meat usually comes from different parts of different cows and sometimes even from different slaughterhouses. Each slaughterhouse might have different levels of caution when inspecting their meat and you can really never trust any of them. Some of the meat comes from parts of the cow that are likely to have come in contact with feces, a carrier of E.coli. E.coli cannot be effectively killed by thorough cooking. (stop me if I am heading into Oprah land). These are all reasons why you should eat local, organic meat. You should know your farmer and know his/her practices. They are most likely not mass producing meat and getting it from other slaughterhouses. They usually pride themselves on being part of the process from birth to slaughter and not using meat of sickly looking animals. (although E.coli cannot really be determined with the naked eye)
What I really find shocking is that the USDA allows meat grinders to create their own safety plans. WHAT?
Here is the link to the article.
Do you eat local meat? If so, from where?
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