Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer
Yesterday on NPR I caught a news story about a restaurant chain called Chipotle. They are an upscale fast food restaurant that pretends to be the same type of purveyor as Whole Foods, i.e. they market the idea of using farm fresh ingredients without actually using farm fresh ingredients. Those who think about their health when eating fast food- an oxymoron if ever there was one- choose these types of outfits because it allows them to indulge their hunger without actually correcting their previous ignorance regarding the source of their next next meal. It appears that Chipotle accidentally poisoned its customers in the Northwest with E. Coli contaminated beef.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/chipotle-linked-e-coli-outbreak-jump-cases-expected-n455556
Not their fault, actually since Chipotle did exactly what they were told to by purchasing their products from “well known and trusted” suppliers. In addition to that, they were secure in the knowledge that the purchases of meats they made were all USDA inspected. Whew! Glad the pros are on the job, doing what they are paid to do, insuring our food supply is safe.
It seems, however, that Chipotle didn’t actually have to poison their customers. The day before they did the USDA had issued a recall on close to 80 tons of ground beef that came from- curiously- a USDA facility in Omaha, Nebraska.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/02/usda-issues-massive-ground-beef-recall-due-to-possible-e-coli
As of now the two events are in no way connected except that they are- in both cases the meat was inspected by the USDA, the very organization who’s sole mission is to inspect for things like this. It’s easy to miss 80 tons of contaminated meat, probably came off the line when the inspector was taking a bathroom break.
Keeping meat safe to eat isn’t rocket science. It must be kept clean, it must be used while fresh or promptly frozen or cured, it must be cooked to the proper temperature and eaten soon thereafter. When was the last time you heard of a hunter getting E.Coli? Hundreds of thousand of tons of wild harvested meat is consumed daily coming from less than laboratory condition environments and yet no one gets sick and dies from it. A salad at McDonalds? Bring your barf bag.
Continue reading “USDA Responsible For E. Coli Outbreak”
