Just 0.05 percent of U.S. beef is tested for deadly bacteriaIt's a Friday night in Missoula, Montana, when my buddy Eric and I walk into the Oxford Café. We make our way through the usual crowd of gamblers, pool players, drinkers, and drunks, and take a seat against the far wall. The waitress looks weary, and we look like work to her. "What'll you have?" she asks. Eric orders a hamburger. I point at the laminated menu and order scrambled eggs and brains, nicknamed "He Needs 'Em."
"Impossible," the waitress says flatly. "Since mad cow disease, the USDA won't let us serve that."
"I don't know why you'd want to eat brains," Eric says. This from a guy who thinks nothing of gutting an elk.
"Impossible," the waitress says flatly. "Since mad cow disease, the USDA won't let us serve that."
"I don't know why you'd want to eat brains," Eric says. This from a guy who thinks nothing of gutting an elk.
I've eaten calf testicles and cow hearts and all sorts of things, but I'd never eaten brains before. I'd heard about the Oxford's fabled dish and figured this would be my chance to try something new, to taste something considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. It didn't seem particularly risky. In fact, no one in Missoula (or anywhere else in the United States) had ever been sickened from eating mad-cow-contaminated meat.
"They'll let us sell pig brains," the waitress offers, "but who wants to eat those?"
I follow Eric's lead and order the state-sanctioned part of the cow, though if we're talking food safety, I really should pass. Turns out, the humble hamburger may be the most dangerous item on the menu.
"They'll let us sell pig brains," the waitress offers, "but who wants to eat those?"
I follow Eric's lead and order the state-sanctioned part of the cow, though if we're talking food safety, I really should pass. Turns out, the humble hamburger may be the most dangerous item on the menu.
You know there's trouble when your average American carnivore thinks twice about biting into a burger. The appetite-killer in question: Escherichia coliform, a.k.a. E. coli, the bacteria behind the spate of recalls that recently hit the nation's beef supply. From June to September 2007 alone, ground beef contaminated with E. coli sickened 55 people while also shuttering one business and shaking up the USDA.
Not all E. coli are evil. There are actually hundreds of different strains, some of which are residing in your body right now, helping you absorb food and process waste. In fact, it's estimated that the average person excretes 10 billion Escherichia coli bacteria with every bowel movement.
One strain that definitely does not belong inside you is E. coli O157:H7. These bacteria normally live in the guts of cattle. However, if the slaughtering process is sloppy, feces or stomach contents can come into contact with meat and contaminate it with the bug. Next thing you know, you're weathering a weeklong bout of stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea. That is, unless your immune system isn't at full strength, in which case you're facing kidney failure or death.
Prior to 1982, little was known about E. coli O157:H7. That year, the strain was identified as a pathogen after a number of people were sickened by tainted hamburgers. A decade later the bug popped up again, this time in burgers from the fast-food chain Jack in the Box. Hundreds were hospitalized and four children died.
Still, it wasn't until 1994 that the USDA began testing for E. coli in samples of beef in packing plants. Five years after that, the agency added an extra safeguard by implementing a system known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), which placed the main responsibility for testing in the hands of the major slaughterhouses. Theoretically, if they detect a bad batch of beef, it won't be shipped to the smaller "down-line" processors, whose job it is to grind and package bulk beef for the public.
For a while, the system appeared to be working. On April 14, 2005, the USDA, FDA, and CDC released a joint report stating that incidence of E. coli infections decreased 42 percent from 1996 to 2004. In the press release, then–USDA Secretary Mike Johanns proudly noted, "The continued reduction in illnesses from E. coli O157 is a tremendous success story and we are committed to continuing this positive trend in the future."
Not all E. coli are evil. There are actually hundreds of different strains, some of which are residing in your body right now, helping you absorb food and process waste. In fact, it's estimated that the average person excretes 10 billion Escherichia coli bacteria with every bowel movement.
One strain that definitely does not belong inside you is E. coli O157:H7. These bacteria normally live in the guts of cattle. However, if the slaughtering process is sloppy, feces or stomach contents can come into contact with meat and contaminate it with the bug. Next thing you know, you're weathering a weeklong bout of stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea. That is, unless your immune system isn't at full strength, in which case you're facing kidney failure or death.
Prior to 1982, little was known about E. coli O157:H7. That year, the strain was identified as a pathogen after a number of people were sickened by tainted hamburgers. A decade later the bug popped up again, this time in burgers from the fast-food chain Jack in the Box. Hundreds were hospitalized and four children died.
Still, it wasn't until 1994 that the USDA began testing for E. coli in samples of beef in packing plants. Five years after that, the agency added an extra safeguard by implementing a system known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), which placed the main responsibility for testing in the hands of the major slaughterhouses. Theoretically, if they detect a bad batch of beef, it won't be shipped to the smaller "down-line" processors, whose job it is to grind and package bulk beef for the public.
For a while, the system appeared to be working. On April 14, 2005, the USDA, FDA, and CDC released a joint report stating that incidence of E. coli infections decreased 42 percent from 1996 to 2004. In the press release, then–USDA Secretary Mike Johanns proudly noted, "The continued reduction in illnesses from E. coli O157 is a tremendous success story and we are committed to continuing this positive trend in the future."
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