Health Law

Ammonia Burger, Anyone?

By Colin Caywood

Over at the New York Times, writer Michael Moss has published yet another excellent piece, titled Company's Record on Beef Treatment Questioned, regarding a meat industry practice that many folks likely have never heard of--ammonia-treated meat trimmings used in many pre-fabricated beef patties.

And while most of the public may not be familiar with this particular addition to their meat, most fast-food companies, and the federal school lunch program, certainly are.  "With the U.S.D.A.'s stamp of approval, the company's processed beef has become a mainstay in America's hamburgers. McDonald's, Burger King and other fast-food giants use it as a component in ground beef, as do grocery chains. The federal school lunch program used an estimated 5.5 million pounds of the processed beef last year alone."

Not only has the practice by Beef Products Inc., been endorsed by the USDA, but they believe it is so effective at killing deadly pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella, that starting in 2007--when USDA began routine testing of hamburger meat sold to the public--the ammonia-treated meat was deemed exempt from testing.

As Mr. Moss's article reveals, the pathogen-free safety of this stomach-churning meat additive is not so iron-clad after all.  Read on by clicking HERE.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on December 31, 2009 (boomark / email).