Store purchased ground beef is particularly susceptible to E. Coli and other food borne pathogens. Why? Store purchased ground beef, or hamburger meat, is not a single, primal cut of beef. Indeed, per a recent New York Times article, ground beef is often; a) a mixture of different grades of meat from the same cow, including "meat trimmings" which include a very high percentage of fat, b) meat from several different cows and c) meat from several different slaughterhouses. Further, store bought ground beef can include meat recovered from advanced meat recovery systems. Advanced meat recovery is a slaughterhouse process by which machinery separates the last bits of meat from bone by scraping or shaving techniques. Advanced meat recovery is done after the primal cuts of the meat are cut off by hand.
Further, the cuts of meat that go into ground beef are cuts nearer the hide and extremities of the cow and thus more likely to become contaminated during the slaughterhouse process. Lastly, ground beef is simply handled much more introducing additional risks into the process.
What is a meat and ground beef lover to do? Grind your own meat with a home meat grinder. Grinding meat at home is healthier and can help protect against E. Coli and other pathogens. Here are some tips on choosing meat for grinding beef at home with a meat grinder:
- Choose whole, primal cuts of beef to grind. These cuts will be from one cow and one slaughterhouse reducing the risks of slaughterhouse processing and food borne pathogens.
- For hamburgers: choose beef sirloin, sirloin tip or top round for lean burgers, typically with 15% fat, or choose boneless beef chuck steak or roast for ground beef with about 20% fat.
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Published 11/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
Tags: Food safety