Disturbing New Details About What's in Our Beef Could Turn You Off Meat for Good

by Maressa Brown December 14, 2012 at 3:01 PM

steak In the midst of all the recalls we've been seeing of everyday foods that often land in our kids' lunch boxes or on the dinner table, you have to wonder what can be done -- and what is being done to make our food safer. Well, someone over at The Kansas City Star decided perhaps it was time to take a closer look at our country's food safety measures, particularly in the beef industry. What they found is seriously shocking, disturbing, and altogether disgusting, so if you haven't eaten your lunch yet ... consider yourself forewarned!

Over the course of a two-year beef investigation, they found evidence of serious health risks, like fecal contamination, which increases the risk of E. coli. GROSS! And that's just the tip of this stomach-turning iceberg ...

While we would like to think that our food supply -- and meat, specifically -- is safer than ever, because we live in modern times and there's enough thorough regulation to protect us from getting sick, that's sadly not the case ...

The Kansas City Star notes that just four companies process more than 87 percent of the beef packed in the U.S., and employ cost-cutting techniques that significantly increase the risk of contamination by foodborne pathogens, leading to hundreds of preventable illnesses every year. How infuriating is that?!

Need further proof? Federal inspection records showed hundreds of references to fecal contamination problems over the last two years at four of the largest beef slaughter plants in the country. I can't even ...

Personally, I've never been into red meat. Since I was a kid, I preferred to stick with chicken and turkey. I'd even written beef off completely until recently when I decided I'd try a bit of grass-fed, organic steak from time to time. But hearing this horrific news, I feel like I should go back to my poultry- and fish-only days! Not that there can't be a plethora of problems with those ... And that said, maybe it's time to take another crack at vegetarianism! After all, if these nasty details aren't enough to turn us off of beef for good, I don't know what would be!

Does this news totally skeeve you out? How do you do your best to ensure your meat is safe?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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Comments 7

Jespren

December 14, 2012 at 4:54 PM

Try COOKING THE FOOD. Ppl don't get foodborne illnesses because the butcher dropped a steak on the floor, they get sick because they insist on eating uncooked or undercooked food. Meat should be cooked until the juices run clear.

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CAP1015

December 14, 2012 at 5:15 PM

These contaniments have been around forever, like the prior comments, cook the food. And for what it's worth if the writer is worried about beef, they really don't want to see a chicken/turkey processing plant or process. While I would love for this to be a non issue, when did the processing of meat become a surgical process? It needs to be clean as possible, within reason, and once again the tired refrain, cook it and this isn't an issue.

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Nonmember comment from melissa

December 14, 2012 at 6:15 PM

Yeah meat is gross. All you people who cry " cook it then! " all your doing is eating a cooked form of that gross sh*t. Literally. You're eating cooked shit so it doesn't make you sick and you can still eat it. You can't tell me that's not gross.

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lalaboosh

December 14, 2012 at 8:35 PM

This information isn't new. I buy grass fed beef anyway, so there is less of a chance of there being nasty germs, and I think they are more careful when they process the meat.

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