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Your Burger, With a Side of Dog Food and Ammonia

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Question. Would you eat dog food?

No?

What if it was mixed in with your hamburger meat? Would you eat it then?

What if I told you it wasn't your choice? What if it was already in the burgers you are eating?

Don't shoot the messenger. Anyway, it's not like they are just putting dog food into your burger, they are adding ammonia first to kill off the E. coli. Well that's a relief.  And if the USDA says it's safe, it shouldn't matter whether you know about it or not. Right?

I don't know how I missed this - It was in the New York Times back in December...

Eight years ago, federal officials were struggling to remove potentially deadly E. coli from hamburgers when an entrepreneurial company from South Dakota came up with a novel idea: injecting beef with ammonia.

No worries though...The USDA says it's a perfectly safe way to turn fatty slaughterhouse trimmings (once sold as dog food) into burgers from your favorite fast food joint, grocery chains, and even school lunches.

Yes, you heard right. Rather than make dog food out of this otherwise trash, it's now being processed into food for you and me (and our kids). What are the poor dogs going to eat? And how long will it be before we are all eating that too?

And get this...The USDA has exempted this new beef product from its mandatory E. coli testing, based on studies done by the same company making millions selling this disgusting stuff.

From the New York Times article - Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned...

Beef Products does not disclose its earnings, but its reported production of seven million pounds a week would generate about $440 million in annual revenue, according to industry records.

And don't think you can just check the ingredient label for ammonia to avoid ingesting this trash.  Nope.  Because in order to make this new beef product more palatable to the American people - Federal officials agreed to the company’s request that the ammonia be classified as a “processing agent” and not an ingredient that would be listed on labels.

The USDA would like you to think this is all okay, since it's protecting you from the deadly E. coli bacteria.   But the New York Times article reveals it's not even doing that...

E. coli outbreaks nationwide have increased in recent years. And this summer, two outbreaks of particularly virulent strains of salmonella in hamburger prompted large recalls of ground beef across several states.

Not surprisingly, the company that makes this stuff declined to be interviewed by the New York Times. But while researching for this post, I came across a video where a Beef Products executive invited the Food Inc. crew to record his company’s inner workings. In it, he explains the process of collecting trash from the slaughterhouse floor, turning it into a disgusting mess, liquefying it, adding ammonia, and turning it into a mashlike substance frozen into blocks or chips to be added to a burger near you. Well, not just "a" burger.  At the end of the video, it's revealed that this product ends up in 70% of hamburgers served in the U.S. and the company predicts that in five years it will be in 100 percent. Seriously...You have got to see this video to believe it...

Here is some of what other bloggers are saying about this...

From Autism In The House - Would You Feed Any Child Ammonia?

It appears that much of our ground beef is being treated with ammonia in order to make the meat safe. And then it doesn't make the meat safe anyway

. . . .

Who am I to question using ammonia and inedible meat products to nourish our children? Stop the world I need to get off!

From Green Health Spot - Two All-Beef and Ammonia Patties...

Restaurant chains and beef processors defended their products' safety Thursday after a report that an ammonia treatment thought to kill harmful germs in meat isn't as effective as the industry and regulators believed.

From Niki at Melbourne Vegan - Licking the pink slime from the slaughterhouse floor...

Oh God, I knew slaughterhouses were bad, and burger meat was bad. But I didn't know about "pink slime" or ammoniated beef. This is the slime and muck and shit scraped off the floors of the

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Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Very interesting (and troubling).  Thanks for taking the time to sign up and comment.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

POWater2010 5 pts

I signed up just to respond to this post. I've been doing water treatment and disinfectant research for more than five years now and have come across some alarming data.

People seldom remember that ammonia is also a fertilizer, not to mention an explosive (Oklahoma City). There are specific bacteria that FEED on ammonia. The most dizzying logic is adding a bacteria food to kill bacteria. Sure ammonia kills bacteria, but obviously not the bacteria which feeds off of it. I'm not as concerned with ammonia as a toxin, but what is really alarming is providing resistant bacteria with a ready made food source. It plainly explains the increase in pathogen outbreaks in beef.

Also, quat. ammonia sanitizers in restaraunts for killing bacteria. They basically monopolize surface disinfectants in kitchens and restaraunts, but again. They are made with ammonia. If the disinfectant is over-dilluted, your only adding food to the fire.

My two cents.

Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Thanks for your comment Maria.  I know I should check out that movie, I just don't know if I'm ready to handle it...sometimes ignorance is bliss.

We wouldn't dream of eating out a trash can...But it seems when it comes to fast food burgers, that's pretty much what we're doing.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Thanks for your comment Judy.  The sad thing is...USDA doesn't even have to be asleep at the wheel...This is all going on with the blessing of the USDA.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

Work Experience Edublog 5 pts

Katie Couric did a piece on antibiotics in meat this week. She did a great job, even going to farms that don't use any antibiotics, proving it can be done economically. What I didn't know, that her piece provided, was that these antibiotics actually have caused outbreaks of intestinal problems world-wide. We've all heard how it actually could be the reason why we see kids today looking bigger and how it could affect antibiotics we take when sick (resistant).

20 years ago, my uncle in L.A. was watching as a butcher at a large chain store was brushing something on the meats. He asked what it was...ready? FORMALDAHYDE! My uncle never bought meat there again.

But now the added insult of something as harmful as Ammonia in meat has really done it for me! I've begun to buy organic chicken, sure it costs a lot more, but I feel better eating that. And for years now, I've only bought small amounts of beef--grass fed--organic too. The eggs I buy are free range also. I get as much organic veggies and fruits as I can find.

I've had it with meat sources trying to kill the public, all to make an extra buck. Is the USDA asleep at the wheel...or being paid under the table?

Judy Anne Cavey-Educator/Writer-Work Experience Edublog creator: http://workforcedevelopment.edublogs.org/

Maria Young 5 pts

That documentary as a whole was eye opening. It wasn't preachy, it didn't seem to have an obvious GO VEGAN! message as many others do. And it was seriously effectful. I do my best to purchase organic meats (true organic meats) but I honestly didn't even put thought into the meat that comes from restaurants and fast food joints.

I had no idea about the ammonia, about the pink slime (oh, ew!), about the dogfood grade meat. It's all so disturbing, it's not debatable to me that the quality of our food has a lot do with the increases in different illnesses and disorders. There is no way these foods aren't having an inverse affect on our health and the health of our children. It's trash, literally.

- Maria Young

immoralmatriarch.com ( http://immoralmatriarch.com )@maria0305
( http://twitter.com/maria0305 )

Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Thanks for the link...I'll check it out.

:-)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Just as long as the air is still breathable.

*sarcasm*

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

zibilord 5 pts

Although commercial food production is doing horrible things to our food, there are sources of healthy, sustainable beef. We've been buying grass fed beef directly from the farmer who raises the cattle for the last couple of years. It is the best meat we've ever had, and makes amazing burgers without the ammonia. In order to make it cost effective though, we buy about 20-25lbs of various cuts and keep them in a little chest freezer that cost us ~$100. To find a farmer near you try this link: http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

Zibi Lord http://freshslowcooking.com ( http://freshslowcooking.com )

thebusychick 5 pts

I saw only the last half of the Oprah episode. This entire conversation scares the B-Jesus out otta me! I'm currently a borderline vegetarian, but this news is encouraging me to take the leap entirely. I'm really considering it.

What next? Are they going to tell us our water isn't safe *sarcasm*

Geez!

From The Quintessential Busy Chick ( http://www.thebusychick.com/ )
The Busy Chick.Com ( http://www.thebusychick.com/ )

Daniellaland 5 pts

Grinding your own meat will definitely take care of the ammonia component, but that cut of beef still went through that same slaughterhouse as the ground meat. 

"The pathogens from infected cattle are spread not only in feedlots, but also at slaughterhouses ... The slaughterhouse tasks most likely to contaminate meat are the removal of animal's hide and the removal of it's digestive system."  -- Fast Food Nation

Daniella - http://www.daniellaland.blogspot.com - Free corndog if you fall off of anything.

Melissa Ford 5 pts

Missed this but makes me thankful--now more than ever--that I'm a lifetime vegetarian.  We're also kosher, so when the kids are older, our plan is to buy from a place like Kol Foods (http://www.kolfoods.com/) that has kosher, organic beef.  Not to get preachy, but I don't truly understand (and I know this is simply my vegetarian side shining through) why people who can afford to do so, would opt to eat more meat that is terrible meat rather than less meat that is raised and slaughtered by a local farmer that you trust.  I'd rather serve good stuff once a week rather than ammonia-laced beef daily. 

But that--once again--gets to the heart of the socioeconomic imbalance in this country where so few can afford to get good, safe meat.

That is why I lean towards supporting places like Kol Foods instead of cheaper options--because meat shouldn't be inexpensive.  Meat is an expensive product to produce well. 

And maybe it's because we're kosher that food ceases just a means to give fuel to our bodies.  For my family, it's a way of discussing and living ethics, supporting sustainability, and teaching responsibility.  A pretty heavy way of looking at a meal :-)

Melissa writes Stirrup Queens ( http://stirrup-queens.com ) and Lost and Found ( http://lostandfoundandconnectionsabound.blogspot.c... ). Her book is Navigating the Land of If ( http://thelandofif.blogspot.com/ ).

midnightbliss 5 pts

food labels are supposed to inform consumers of what they are supposed to be eating but now we know that not all ingredients are being indicated. so, how we are supposed to know the true ingredients of what we are eating?

Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Good idea.  I wouldn't even have thought about picking out the cut of beef and then just having it ground.  Thanks for the idea.

:-)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

thesmartmama 5 pts

Although I knew about it before, the NY Times article reminded me of how disgusting ground beef was and how you really couldn't identify the source of your ground meat. I asked the butcher at the local Von's what was the source of the ground beef that the store sells as "freshly ground" and he said that they do grind it at the store, but it is from a meat log - just the stuff pushed together and from up to as many as 15 different sources. He said that if you want ground beef, just buy the cut of meat you want and have the butcher grind it, for free. So, if you want ground beef - say for spaghetti - just buy the meat cut you want and have it ground. Easy solution!

Dearest Fatty 5 pts

The closer you look the less appetizing meat (and other animal products) seem. Its been a long time since meat and dairy and eggs came from the little farm down the road and in ANY situation where a person cannot check EVERY animal EVERY day is one where disease and illness thrive.

So instead of  sorting out the root source of the problem they cover it with drugs...MMMmm Mmmm.

When I see yummy mummies wrinkling their noses up at sweets or other "unhealthy" choices for their kids but still giving them processed ham and cheese for lunch I wonder how big their personal blinkers are.

Animal welfare aside..I will not feed my kids something so dangerous to their health that it has to be injected with AMMONIA!

Is it your flab or your brain you need to fight? Answers on a postcard please.

Daniellaland 5 pts

We want cheap meat and God Bless The USA! portions the size of our heads when we sit down to eat, so how else are factory farm slaughterhouses going keep up?! 

It seems to me that this latest disgustingness follows the continuum of what we have already been supporting with our meat buying dollar for quite some time now.

Daniella - http://www.daniellaland.blogspot.com - Free corndog if you fall off of anything.

Catherine Morgan 5 pts

Hi Nordette...Thanks for the chuckle.  I must have missed the Oprah show on Food Inc. too.  I heard about the movie, but like you, I wasn't sure I could handle it.  I'm pretty sure it hasn't gotten to the level of Soylent Green at this point...and I think a remake of that movie would be horrifying.

Like you, I am already eating very few burgers...and I'm shooting for never.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

Nordette Adams 6 pts

I missed the Oprah show on Food Inc. ( http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Truth-About-Foo... ) At first I was disappointed that I missed it, and then I consoled myself by saying, "You know how you are. You would have been overwhelmed with the problems with our food supply, gotten all worked up, and been afraid to look at food." So, I let it go. Then I see this post, and a few nights ago I watched something on the obesity epidemic. Lately it seems everyone's saying this world is going to hell in the handbasket on a fast bike. Now I'm thinking of that old movie Soylent Green ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/ ). There have been whispers of a remake ( http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/so... ) for a while. Now might be a good time.

I rarely eat fast food burgers. Now that will probably be never.

Nordette Adams ( http://www.bookotopia.com ) is a BlogHer CE ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... ) & you can find her other stuff through Her 411 ( http://her411.com ).