I have a hard time feeling any kind of sympathy in reaction to this article.
1) Red meat is a poor dietary choice to begin with.
2) Cooked through (to 160 degrees) there wouldn't be a problem.

Well, I am sympathetic to the people who are hospitalized because they are eating food from a source they trust. Since everyone here has heard my rant about commerically produced farm lot beef and the horrible, dirty and inhumane methods agri-business uses to raise it, I will only say that I would never eat commerical beef rare, ever. I do eat my own, raw or extremely rare, without a second thought, although the government and big agri-business is trying their best to drive all the small farmers out of business.

As a producer of small amounts of grass fed natural beef, I know what's in my beef. I do agree that we eat far too much of it as a nation and that it's an inefficient use of other agricultural products and of agricultural space.

However, everyone is entitled to their own choices and their own opinions, including whether or not to eat beef (or tofu, for that matter), so I won't criticize anyone else's choices, including that big roast that's currently in my oven cooking.

Thanks, Tricia, for the "heads up" in case anyone here might have some of that in their freezer.

Annie

Well, Miles, I see I can put away that tourniquet I keep around for bleeding hearts.

hehehehe- Sorry. I'm that guy that leans away from the turn rather than into it. The need to panic is becoming an epidemic in this country: E. Coli, radio-active granite, lead in imported childrens toys. The list grows exponentially every day.
It sucks to get sick- for whatever reason. It HELPS to be educated about how to avoid it.

The virulent e-coli strain that is sickening/killing people has been bred by our dreadful agricultural practices. Feedlotting animals forces them to live in filth, feeding huge quantities of grain changes their entire digestive systems from acid to alkaline, and the low level antibiotics that are given them to keep them from getting really sick have bred the virulent e-coli. Then huge numbers of animals are slaughtered in huge slaughterhouse that run 24/7, so they are never properly cleaned. Re-regionalize agriculture, stop the horrible agricultural practices, and health concerns like this will vanish.

Humans have been eating red meat for literally millions of years. We are omnivores and we have the teeth of omnivores. It's only a bad health choice if it's commercially raised--but so is industrial chicken, eggs, and milk.

Miles, we've been posting articles such as this for a long time on this forum whether it's green onions, tomatoes, or ground meat. I don't remember anybody ever being in a panic. If I had this product in my freezer, however, I would neither eat it myself nor would I feed it to my family.

/tricia

"2) Cooked through (to 160 degrees) there wouldn't be a problem."

Actually miles, there "would" be a problem. Your intended hamburger would be a hockey puck. What an ignorant post.

I am with Annie and Laceyvail on this one. Beef is actually a very efficient use of resources provided it is grass fed and finished. Cattle can graze on grass grown in a field that is not suitable to grow other crops. Small scale production of beef fed what they are supposed to eat is not a risk for e-coli, is high in the good fats we all should be eating, does not produce toxic waste but fertilizer instead and is not inhumane. I have gotten to the point that I will not buy supermarket beef. I just got back from vacation and we eat local sea food the whole week. What a delicious way to stand up for what i believe in.

As all the health scares occur i feel very happy to live in VT where we can eat almost only small farm produced food. The last few years have seen me happily eating and serving spinach, beef tomatoes etc as here we have a thriving small local agricultural food structure.

-Robin

Some things need to be put in perspective and this is one of them.

I really do wish that we could all eat home grown, grass fed beef but that is simlpy not an option for most of us. I went that route a year or so ago and the cost was astronomical, absolutely out of the reach for most people.

Given the amount of meat Americans must eat daily the percent of incidents is miniscule......your car is way more dangerous than your meat!

Having said that, the issues are real, so buy quality, cook to appropriate temps (yuck!) or become a vegetarian...but don't eat tomatoes, lettuce or peppers!

foodonastump- I do not appreciate your assessment of the educational level of my posts. I'm a food author with a regular column for which I am highly regarded. After almost 20 years in the food services industry (mostly cooking) I can assure you that anything I post is based on years and years of education and experience.

Actually Chase the price gap is beginning to close on that one. As fuel prices and corn prices increase so do the prices of feed lot meat. As for the economics of it, we are able to do it by eating less and not eating the primes cuts very often. Plus I buy a share of meat or half an animal and keep it in my freezer. Personally I would prefer to eat less of good meat then eat tons of other stuff.

The up front costs of the meat are higher for grass fed but lower for medical costs (and I am not talking about e coli etc).

-Robin

miles - I was reacting (ok, I admit it, over-reacting) to a comment that I thought was somewhere in between insensitive and rude. While a thousand years of culinary education and experience would not change my opinion that a a 160 deg hamburger is overdone, I apologize for offending you with my comments. Peace.

Miles, I also reacted to your original comment. It felt, to me, like you were insinuating that I was panicing over the recall. I don't even live in MA & there's not a Whole Foods within 50 miles. We have a habit around here of posting these notices for, as Annie said, a "Heads Up".

It was not my intent & remains not my intent to start a debate over beef raising practices. I 'think' on the forum we would all prefer small farm, grass-fed beef; but it's just not as viable a choice around here as it is for Robin living in Vermont. We do have lots of fresh seafood though & enjoy the bounty our area (coastal CT) provides.

Hey, Robin...we're heading up your way (well, almost) next weekend. We're going to Gilmanton, NH.

/tricia

Peace, lil' dudes! No harm done. I don't eat read meat or pork any more. For work purposes I do taste them- and I really do enjoy them. But as many here have expressed, I'm not a fan of how the animals are treated nor how they are fed- which inturn becomes part of our diet.
As a rule I eat free-range fowl, deep sea fish and most free range game. That's quite a challenge when the nearest Whole Foods is over 2 hours away. We do have a Trader Joes which has a modest (and pricey) selection of meats.
And I completely agree- any red meat cooked to 160 is nasty.

Whole Foods philosophy is not typical of "commercially" raised beef in this country. I buy their meats and poultry, including grass-fed and buffalo meat, and find the quality and flavor to be excellent.

Furthermore, eating quality red meat once or even twice a week is probably far better for your health then eating a regular diet of white flour, white pasta, white sugar, white rice, etc. which Americans consume in huge quantities.

Just another school of thought...

Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Whole Foods and Meat

MilesÂÂ..

Whole Foods in Valencia is 1 hour and 10 minutes from Bakersfield. DD lives in Valencia, I live in Kernville, but often leave Whole Foods and am back shopping in Btown in about an hour before heading up the canyon.

LassenÂs Market on California Ave. has a nice selection of free-range chicken and grass fed beef as well as organic produce.

Welcome to the forum. I donÂt post often but have learned so much from just lurking here now that my kitchen remodel is done. Well almost done! Really nice group of folks who are great cooks.

Claudia