Dog Food Anyone?

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

First of all, I have nothing against real ground beef.  That is, I will eat beef that has been ground by my local butcher or trusted grocer.  I love a good burger.

However, starting today, I refuse to eat ground beef from an unknown source (i.e. fast food restaurants and big chain grocery stores.)  Not only does the ground beef industry refuse to allow retesting of their meat  (they won’t even sell it to stores who retest it,) I just read that one company is taking parts of cow that are considered unusable, treating the beef  “trash” with ammonia gas to kill harmful bacteria that tend to contaminate those cow parts, and selling it to be mixed with higher quality ground beef to make it cheaper for restaurants and schools (yes, schools!)  This disgusting meat product, which doesn’t list ammonia as an ingredient, although it remains following treatment, may still harbor dangerous bacteria.  It’s unbelievable.

I’m not touching ground beef from an unknown source or letting my kids eat it until the beef industry and the U.S.D.A get their act together.  I’d suggest you do the same.  Maybe if we all boycott their substandard, potentially dangerous product, they’ll stop trying trying to feed us beef products that used to be made into dog food.

For a more complete story, read today’s New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=1&hp

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