What is Contaminating Your Meat?

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According to the Center for Disease Control Escherichia coli or E. coli is one of the most commonly transmitted foodborne illnesses.

E. coli is present in the digestive tract of animals. The CDC says you get E. coli when you get a small bit of fecal matter in your mouth.

Michael Pollan, in a New York Times article says, “It's accepted that the animals will enter the kill floor caked with feedlot manure that has been rendered lethal by the feedlot diet.”

Slaughterhouses take precautions to keep manure from infecting the meat but experts say some cuts of meat are more susceptible to contamination than others.

Beef-Cattle Farmer, Robert Meeks, says “E. coli contamination is a major concern with ground beef. If a piece of steak is contaminated you can cook it to 160 [degrees] and it’s fine but with ground beef the contamination from the outside of the cut gets mixed in. So you have to cook the meat even longer to kill the bacteria.”

There are ways you can prevent contracting E. coli. The CDC says, you can prevent E. coli infections by regularly washing your hands and cooking meat products thoroughly to the appropriate temperature.

Another food born illness threatening our food supply is Bovine spongiform encephalopathy also referred to as Mad Cow Disease.

The Food and Drug Administration defines Mad Cow Disease as a chronic, degenerative disorder affecting the central nervous system of cattle. The cause of Mad Cow Disease is not known but the FDA suggests that the brain and spinal tissue of cows is what might carry the disease.

USDA guidelines require processing plants to quarantine and discard the high risk tissues in an effort to prevent an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease.

Downer cows are a factor in the Mad Cow Disease debates. Some people feel that the downed cows might be sick and shouldn’t be allowed to be processed for consumption because they could potentially have Mad Cow Disease.

According to a MSNBC story, in March, 2009 President Obama “Permanently banned the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own.”

The USDA has made adjustments to comply with the new downer cow standards.

Salmonella are bacteria that are present in feces. Salmonellis is the infection you get from the Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella is more prevalent in chicken meat than in beef meat.

The CDC says you can prevent Salmonellis by washing your hands thoroughly when cooking or playing with animals and take the proper precautions to prepare your food by heating it to the correct temperature.