Tag Archives: Beef

Needle tenderized: the danger in 20 per cent of Canada’s meat you aren’t aware of

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Something that slipped under my psychedelic radar was a story by CTV in Montreal about the risks of needle tenderized beef.

Most people know to cook ground beef well, but there are other cuts of beef that can also make you sick.

“My pan is nice and warm, and you see the heat is starting to penetrate the steak,” Chef Daniel Trottier says as he grills up some thick steaks. “My tenderizingPagepleasure for this steak is rare, rare to mid-rare.”

Trottier is very careful not to let too much heat get in the meat. There’s nothing rare about people who like it the same way.

But beef lovers beware: Not all cuts should be cooked this way and it may surprise you why. Over 20 per cent of Canadian beef has been mechanically tenderized. It’s a process that uses blades or needles to make some cuts of meat easier to chew. However, most don’t even know that they’re eating it.

Christina Friesen teaches butchery at the Pearson School of Culinary Arts. She sometimes uses a mechanical tenderizer. It’s usually done on lesser quality cuts of beef.

“It’s all about profitability. If we didn’t have the pickers to tenderize this, it would go to ground. That’s a lot of meat going into ground. It’s to make profit,” said Friesen.

Dr. Joe Schwarcz has a more direct way of putting it: “You can basically make lower quality meat behave as if it were higher quality meat.”

It may be tender and cheap, but it could pose a risk to your health.

Microbiologist Rick Holley says if there iE. coli on the surface of the meat, tenderizing could push it into the centre.

“What that translates to is that the overall risk associated with foodborne illness from intact mechanically tenderized meat products is about two-fold higher,” said Holley, who teaches at the University of Manitoba.

Last September, 18 people got sick after eating beef contaminated with e-coli that came from Alberta’s Xl Foods—five of them after eating mechanically tenderized beef.

“There is an additional risk associated with mechanical tenderization that allows the bacteria to get into the middle of the stuff,” said Holley.

“It’s also possible for the needles to become contaminated as you go from steak to steak to steak and you pick up bacteria from one steak and transfer it to another one,” Schwarcz continued.

Public health authorities aren’t sure if the tenderizing process was directly responsible for the five cases in Alberta. They’re still investigating.

Not warning consumers

In its investigation, CTV Montreal found only one major retailer, Costco, that’s gone the distance and included instructions on how to safely cook this meat.

Metro’s tenderized French roast has big bold print that says “all cooked – all good,” but there’s no advice on what that means. Same thing at Provigo, it just says “tenderized.”

Quebec’s major grocery chains declined our request for an interview, but say they’re abiding by Health Canada’s recommendation. Still, without clear guidelines, many beef eaters seem to be letting their taste buds make the decisions.

People sick but how many remains a Canadian mystery; E. coli O157 in burgers

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Canada Safeway Limited are warning the public not to consume The Gourmet Meat Shoppe and The Butcher’s Cut brands of Frozen Beef Burgers described below because these products may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.

This recall is the result of E. coli O157:H7 product testing by the CFIA related to an ongoing outbreak investigation. The CFIA is currently conducting a food safety investigation at the producing facility to determine if any additional products may be affected.e.coli.burger.2.13d

e.coli.burger.feb.13

At least they didn’t eat at Chipotle: hormones and other things

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Geni Wren of Bovine Veterinarian Magazine writes:

Last week, while I was attending the National Institute for Animal Agriculture’s 2012 Antibiotic Symposium in Columbus, Ohio, I joined some of the other attendees for a lovely dinner at a high-end steakhouse.

When the server came out with a beautiful platter of plastic-wrapped pieces of steak to show us our choices, she started to describe the beef that the restaurant used.

She was doing great until the end when she declared: “All of our beef is hormone-free.” We all gave sort of a collective sigh with some head-shaking – here we go again. Do we pick this battle and try to educate this server? I’m sure you can imagine that a group of seven who represented the beef industry in various forms was not going to let this one pass. And we didn’t.

We informed the server that all beef contains hormones, naturally-occurring or otherwise. To which she said, “Well these cows are fed hormones early on but by the time they are done they are all gone.” Obviously, she had hormones confused with antibiotic residues. 

We tried to explain that wasn’t right, at which point she just gave up and said, “I don’t know. That’s what they told us to say.” We let her off the hook as it was apparent she was only spouting the information that someone else who probably didn’t know what they were talking about told her (and the other servers) to say.

It’s just too bad that when you are paying a lot for a really nice steak that the owners/managers/chefs either don’t take the time to have adequate knowledge about it, or if they do, they neglect to pass on the correct information to the people who are actually interfacing with customers.

Grass-fed, natural or otherwise, no guaranteed meat safety

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Microorganisms don’t discriminate; just ask the 550 diners who got sick with norovirus at Heston Blumenthal’s fancy pants Fat Duck restaurant a few years ago.

Sarah Elton, whose new book Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet will be published in the spring, writes in the Globe and Mail there is a prevalent belief that meat in the local food system is safer than what is offered at the supermarket. I thought this too, long before the XL Foods recall, and while researching my book, Locavore, about the local food movement’s alternatives to the industrial food system in Canada, I became more familiar with the differences. I am willing to pay more for locally-raised meat because it’s better for the environment, supports local economies, and is safer from the nasty bugs of industrial food such as E. coli O157 and antibiotic-resistant pathogens – or so I thought. The other day, as I was preparing grass-fed beef for dinner, I took a second look at what I was cooking. I realized I had assumed that this beef was safer – but was it really?

It turns out that buying a safer meat is more complicated than simply choosing local, organic, naturally raised or grass-fed. In fact, none of these labels is guaranteed to be safer.

“Bacteria really don’t care about our politics,” said Douglas Powell, a food scientist at Kansas State University who has been studying E. coli O157 for two decades. “There are risks in all food systems.” As a study out of Purdue University that compared regular beef to grass-fed concludes, “there are no clear food safety advantages to grass-fed beef products over conventional beef products.”

All cows can potentially carry toxic E. coli – as can wild deer and even raccoon. Meat is most likely to be contaminated when the carcass is gutted; animal hides can carry, and spread, the bacteria.

“Almost all food decisions are faith-based,” Powell said. “That’s why people say things like ‘I trust my farmer.’ Faith-based food systems have to go.” He wants companies to provide the consumer with food safety data.

As for me, I’ll continue to buy meat raised without antibiotics, by farmers practising low-impact agriculture. I will also, however, buy a tip-sensitive meat thermometer. I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Color doesn’t cut it when cooking burgers – French edition

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Our French food safety friend, Albert Amgar, sent along a statement from retailer Carrefour involving a recall of hamburger and patties contaminated with E. coli O 157: H7 and produced by Elivia Eloyes.

“In general, it should be noted that cooking (ie the disappearance of the pink color) hamburgers and chopped meat products helps prevent the consequences of such contamination … these recommendations for cooking are most appropriate when the meat is intended for young children and the elderly.”

What’s more appropriate is a tip-sensitive digital thermometer because 30 per cent or so of hamburger will turn brown before it is actually cooked to a safe temperature.

Color is a lousy indicator: stick it in.

Pink slime saga boosts Australian beef exports

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 Like mad cow disease, although on a much smaller scale, Australian cattle exporters are reaping the benefits of the pink slime controversy in the U.S.

AAP reports beef and veal exports to the U.S. are expected to increase by 28 per cent to 205,000 tonnes in 2011/12, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) said in its June quarter commodities report.

ABARES attributed U.S. demand for imported beef to reduced cattle slaughter and an ongoing fall-out over reports in March that 70 per cent of ground beef sold in American supermarkets contained pink slime – a cheap meat filler treated with an antibacterial agent.

But beef exports to Indonesia are likely to fall by about 27 per cent to 530,000 head during the same period, after footage of cattle being treated inhumanely at local slaughter houses was aired on ABC television.

Public outcry over the footage led to Australian live exports to Indonesia being suspended for a month.

The live trade resumed after stronger auditing requirements were put in place, but exports have struggled to recover, with Indonesia now pushing for self-sufficiency in the beef market.

19 sick, 3 HUS from E. coli in raw beef in Belgium

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Nineteen cases of infection with E. coli O157 have been detected in Limburg, Belgium, of which three have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

The Federal Agency for Security of the Food Chain (AFSCA) said Thursday that all cases are related to the ingestion of filet américain (lit. American fillet) with onions and more seasoning than a normal steak tartare.

AFSCA launched an investigation and based on date of purchase, consumption and onset of disease, the suspect beef has been traced and initial sampling results were positive for E. coli O157.

Victims of French E. coli O157 outbreak want to know why it happened; courts slow to respond

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Nine-year-old Ugo Picot was stricken with E. coli O157:H7 linked to frozen meatballs in tomato sauce in June 2011.

Ugo was one of eight children in Northern France confirmed with E. coli O157 after eating beef bought from German retailer, Lidl.

When his mother took him to the hospital because of persistent vomiting, she was told, “gastroenteritis is seven days, it is only five,” and was sent home.

As reported in today’s edition of La Voix du Nord, "One morning, Ugo is not well at all. I felt like my heart would stop beating. Back in the hospital and the beginning of the nightmare. Helicopter transfer to hospital of Lille, a tube in his stomach: dialysis, to flush the kidneys.”

Didier Picot and Virginia were told Ugo had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS); Virginia still trembles at the memory of a psychiatrist come "talk of death" to his son.

A year later, Ugo is a small boy of nine who tires more easily than others, and his kidneys will return to normal functioning.

In the corridors of the hospital in Lille, she met the parents of other small children, and that most had bought ground meat brand Country Steak at Lidl.

The parents have launched legal action, but progress is slow.

Albert Amgar writes on his blog that it is rare in France to hear the voice of those who have suffered from food poisoning.

Steal this movie, don’t steal this beef

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The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has alerted consumers and food businesses about a theft of a consignment of beef from a Dublin-based meat wholesaler.

Consumers are being urged not to purchase any meat sold from unregistered outlets or unregistered door-to-door sales.

Up to 43 boxes (approx 20-24kg per box) of beef containing prime cuts, rolled rib of beef and knuckle were stolen.

The FSAI said food businesses have a legal obligation to only purchase meat from approved sources after checking all appropriate documentation.

Any break in the cold chain between the time the meat was stolen and when it may be sold could result in a serious health risk to consumers, particularly given the recent hot weather.

Meat gets around; Australian beef implicated in South Carolina E. coli positive sample

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Australians don’t take kindly to suggestions their beef may have E. coli.

A Japanese chain serving raw beef tried the tactic in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak last year that sickened 20 people, and now a positive sample in South Carolina – no people sick – has triggered diverse responses.

On May18, 2012, two South Carolina companies, Lancaster Frozen Foods and G&W Inc. announced they were recalling nearly 7,000 pounds of ground beef after a state testing program found an E. coli O157 positive sample (there was no mention of a possible connection with the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in early May at a restaurant in South Carolina that sickened 11 people, but outbreaks do focus the attention of public health folks).

The Charlotte Observer reported the SC meat originated from an Australian packing plant, and that the companies no longer buy beef from the Australian company.

A few days later the story popped up throughout Australia, with meat types insisting the meat was safe and noting that more than 70 Australian plants are certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to export meat and poultry.

Australian TV got into the scrum, declaring that up to 13 Australian shipments of contaminated meat have been rejected by USDA in the past year, including nine loads of mutton contaminated with feces and one load because of veterinary drug residues.

Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd. said in January that one of the "major hurdles for Australian exports to the U.S. in 2012" would be increased non-O157 E. coli testing requirements. MLA estimated Australia’s beef exports to the U.S. in 2011 were valued at A$744 million.

The U.S. is Australia’s second largest export market for beef and its largest export market for lamb.

Seek and ye shall find: increased testing means increased positives, and it’s going to take diplomatic skills and data to better understand what a positive means.

In the short-term, blame the foreigners will remain politically appealing: Australia does it, U.S. does it, Canada does it, every country in Europe does it.