Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Alert! Ground Beef Recall

I was watching a TV news story about the ground beef recall and decided to just check my freezer. I was horrified to find that both of my ground beef packages (Moran's All Natural) had the recalled code of "1241" within the boundary of the USDA stamp on the package. I know most members of this group are in Canada but anyone who may have purchased U.S. beef in April, please check! We both had bouts of stomach "flu" about a month ago after I had cooked some pre-formed burgers from one of the packages. It really scares me when I think of how close we came to a fatal illness! I had mistakenly assumed that All Natural meant organic and safe - from now on will grind my own "certified organic" meat.

Hi Suzie, that's a common mistake. All natural generally means nothing added like preservatives, or other chemicals. Organic means absolutely no chemicals, no antibiotics, the cattle are given organic feed. Here are a couple of links that help expalin it:

Mayo Clinic
Accidental Hedonist

I'm so glad you and your family didn't have more of a problem with this meat.

Hugs,

you really don't want to know...slaughter houses are not places of peace, quiet and beauty.

the recal has NOT ONE THING to do with the 'all natural' and/or 'organic'...these terms relate to the meat's
provenance...recalls come from 'sanitation' practices or mishaps in the 'harvest phase'

ground beef is often associated with eColi bacteria...it grows naturally in the 'digestive and excretory' systems of
beef cattle...these cows aren't sick, the stuff is always in their innards; the crux of the problem is, politely,
the excision of the cows innards and waste products in a manner in which this offal does not have any contact with
the carcass...it ain't pretty.

ground beef, prepackaged and provided by slaughter-houses are the leading sources o eColi problems with meat...
jack in the box, a state fair in new york, it's against the law to serve a rare hamburg, 40,000,000 lbs recalled, contaminated
ground beef made the headline just two years ago...this isn't big news...it's an ongoing problem.

many people have a huge disconnect about the sources of their food products: fruit from mexico, farmed fish from chile,
eggs from maine, ground beef from a factory...these aren't good choices...SOME PEOPLE believe CHEAP is better...
and cost is their only buying consideration.

note: if you decide to grind your own 'organic' beef...well, kitchen aide has a nice grinder attachment- use coarse then
the finer bit...remember you can purchase less expensive cuts to grind up hamburg...and don't forget you NEED fat.
an old fashioned hank-crank grinder work good, you'll probably need to tripple-grind your beef.

i'd suggest purchasing ground beef- organic or not- from a NONsupermarket, a place with a clean room and a meat butcher
who grinds his own product...(they also usually make store-made sausage)...these people exist yet in this world.

find and meet a local organic farmer, buy at farmer markets, real products from the folks who grow it.

best
aloha Ben

Thanks for the tips. I do have a KitchenAid mixer and have ordered the meat grinder attachment. It's kinda funny, though - a wonderful butcher opened his store very near me about a year ago. He does not sell regular ground beef, just ground buffalo, so I was buying the Morans at the Albertson's across the street. I plan on requesting that he order beef for me from one of the wonderful small farms that are local - I know it will not only be safer but also tastier (and will probably double up my buffalo burger order as he grinds them himself and they are wonderful and very low in fat). Would you mind answering a question for me, though? Where exactly is ordering/cooking a rare burger illegal? I encountered this fallacy often in Florida, where I lived for 25 years before moving here. Whenever I tried to order this in a retaurant, it was a stock answer. In Florida, it was not a statutory or regulatory prohibition, just a corporate policy. Of course, this may have changed in the 4 years since I lived there.

And you are absolutely correct about small, sustainable growers. Here in Las Vegas, we have a recently formed organic food coop and several of us are working to get the word out. I hope to become more knowledgeable and more involved with this in future, as I have been on the Anti-Inflammatory Diet for about 2 weeks and 95% of my chronic pain is gone! Since I am not sure whether it's the diet or the organic food or even the low/no starch component, I am adopting a "wait and see" approach and hope to post a more complete report in a few months.

Thanks again!
Suzie

aloha suzie

'against the law' ... ok... it's backwards law-making... it's in healthcode/sanitation regs of every restaurant
inspection in the us...ground beef must be cooked to an internal temp of 155F...that is 'well done'

now...it's not jail. if a health/sanitation inspector sees a rare burger being served at time of inspection
it's points off the score...AND in 'corporate' america the torte liability if you kill a customer with an eColi burger
is just unacceptible.

NOTE; this 'rare' thing applies only to ground beef...a nice cut of steak can be cooked and served rare...
a steak is a primal cut of meat fresh frm the carcass, the 'insides' of a steak are sterile and harbour no
such bacteria (ecoli burgers come from mixing 'inadvertently' the feces with the meat) ...so RARE on that
big sirloin is cool, burger no.

if you get into grinding your own beef someday, wash you hands well, wear vinyl glove to handle the meat,
clean cutting board and knife...good fresh beef, ask the butcher not to fine trim the fat, you trim the fat...
enjoy amd rare, luscious rare juicy burgers..yum, yum, yum, will be just fine at home.

some bacon, grilled vidalia onions, slice of fresh tomato, real cheddar cheese, mayo, ketchup...
no pickle...no mustard, who puts mustard on a burger anyway, how perverse.

best
aB

Hey Ben,

Interesting reading.... when I moved to Green Bay I met a butcher at my church. He was now retired and had been a butcher for years and years. Stated the industry really changed in his lifetime (for the worse). He did not go into details and I wish he would have.

Tim

Respectfully, Ben, you are misinformed. While there are USDA guidelines for the preparation of ground meat, it is an assumption of risk on the part of the consumer if he or she wishes to have their burger prepared rare. Most restaurant menus offer a disclaimer regarding undercooked meat, eggs and seafood.

After all, half the restaurants here in Vegas would already have been forced to close if the point system you describe was in place. There are wonderful, hamburger-specific restaurants in the Mandalay Bay and Paris that prepare burgers to the customer's preference (my personal favorite is a rare burger with truffles and foie gras-yummmm!). And Craftsteak at the MGM Grand serves a wicked steak tartare, which of course is completely raw.

Now, I am aware of the risk I take by indulging in these dishes in a restaurant setting and realize this may not be appropriate for everyone. You have certainly brought attention to the fact that for safety's sake, burgers should be thoroughly cooked but again, it's a personal choice and not a regulatory issue.

Regards,
Suzie