The New York Times traces one of the numerous batches of hamburger that has severely injured and killed Americans over the past three years and, guess what? When Cargill sells you choice Angus beef, they sometimes throw in a little ammonia for free:
The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made by the food giant Cargill, were labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.
If you harbor any doubts that corporations such as Cargill and Tyson aren’t perfectly willing to keep selling meat that sickens or kills people from E. coli O157:H7 contamination if it contributes to their profit margin, then you owe it to your family if not yourself to read this article.
And while you’re at it, check out this list of E.coli hamburger recalls – Big Ag’s hit list from the past two years.
Despite being part of a family that loves grilled hamburgers and spaghetti & meatballs, I have to say that after looking at all the evidence, I’m seriously considering buying my own meat grinder – grandma had one down on her farm – and only cooking hamburger I’ve made myself in order to keep Cargill from shitting in it.
But let us not leave this subject of dangerous and disgusting factory farm production without a nod to the cojone-less U.S. Department of Agriculture, which bears complicity in this fine mess.
