14 Sickened In Colorado With Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Burgers, With a Side of Flame Retardants

Grist:

Here's the latest: In Colorado, 14 people have fallen ill from hamburger meat tainted with antibiotic-resistent salmonella, the Boulder newspaper Daily Camera reports. (Note that antibiotic-resistant salmonella is distinct from MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, increasingly associated with industrial meat production, that kills 20,000 Americans each year--more than AIDS.)

The bad burger came from a Denver-based supermarket chain called King Soopers, which has now recalled 466,236 pounds of it.

Read the whole story: Grist

Comments

[SamKnause]

Shaking head, speechless!!!! Our country is about to witness an implosion. Greed, corruption, pollution, 2 wars, the endless and fruitless war on drugs, 37 th in medical care, pristine lands and waters being destroyed, Wall Street stealing from tax payers in broad daylight, illegal elections, torturers going unpunished, police brutality climbing at alarming numbers, and poisoned food supplies. It is wrong to feel hopeless?

[BannedNBoston]

Get rid of the corn and soy subsidies.
Outlaw anti-biotics in animal feed.
outlaw feeding corn to cows it makes them sick.

[TigersEye]

Disgusting. We need mass produced beef.....why? A lot of meat goes to waste, we're butchering and mass producing way more meat than we ever need. Everything has to be done cheaply and poor quality to feed the masses and a huge chunk of that goes to waste. If I'm going to have a steak I'll spend the extra dollar to get a locally grown, grass fed piece of meat. I haven't eaten hamburger in over 10 years. No thanks.

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

Faux beef seems like a better choice.

[Roguer]

Ok... I'll bite... What exactly is "faux beef"?

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

Here is some example of faux beef.
http://www.aulacveggies.com/FrozenProduct.asp

[Roguer]

Nutrition Facts on the product mentioned...

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 tbsp (9g)
Servings Per Container: about 31
Amount Per Serving
Calories 35 Calories from Fat 0
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%

Saturated Fat 0g 0%

Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 0mg 0%
Potassium 5mg 0%
Total Carb. 3g 1%

Dietary Fiber 0g 0%

Sugars 0g
Protein 5g
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0% Iron 2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Calories: 2,000 2,500
Total Fat Less than 65g 80g
Sat Fat Less than 20g 25g
Cholesterol Less than 300mg 300mg
Sodium Less than 2,400mg 2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate 300g 375g
Dietary Fiber 25g 30g

Ingredients: Soybean Fiber, wheat, red yeast, soy oil, sugar, salt.

I will stay with my clean unsalted, hormone and antibiotic free grass fed beef... Thank you for the suggestion though.

[Roguer]

Interesting idea that the article puts forward. Resistant Salmonella coming from feedlot beef. As a producer of pastured, hormone, pesticide, and anti-biotic free, grass fed beef (sad that I have to list what does not go into meat), I am opposed to the corporate feedlot concept of production (opposed to corp. farming in general). That being said...

Some questions that should be answered.

1. Cattle going into cheep ground beef typically is not from feedlots but from old cull beef and dairy cattle that go directly to butcher. If this strain of bacteria is in the cattle themselves, most likely the source is dairy or beef or both?

The author assumes they came from a feedlot, does he know for sure the source of the animals?

2. Even though the bacteria was found in the ground beef does not mean it came from the cow. More than likely it came from an external source, such as the processing facility itself?

3. How much antibiotic cleaner was used to clean the place on a regular basis? How was the facility maintained?

4. How many "antibiotic" cleaners are used in the consumer's personal space? Germ-x, dish soap, deodorant, body washes, laundry soap, bathroom cleaner, kitchen cleaner, carpet cleaner, room deodorizer, kleenex, band-aids, etc? Seems like every product sold has an antibiotic in it?

[Roguer]

I am not trying to down play the seriousness of food safety, but the article seems a bit sensationalized, without looking to the true source of the problem. Much like the peanuts in VA were not the problem in the peanut butter, but rather the processing facility; would not it make sense to look for the source here?

Buy local, talk to the farmer, there a many that would be happy to sell their wares and even give tours of their farms.

[arabianway]

WAKE UP PEOPLE

According to Greenpeace, "Every eight seconds another acre of Rainforest is flattened for Brazilian cattle grazing."

The Rainforests are the lungs of the planet.

We cannot depend on USDA to protect ANYTHING.

Do a little research, just a little, on factory farming.
What are you putting in your mouth and your children's mouths? Dead, polluted flesh does not contribute to health.

If you are sickened, you yourself are accountable. The information is there, and this problem will only be getting worse. the grotesque conditions of using animals as if they were crops to be harvested, with attendant disease and the measures taken to prevent disease DO NOT promote health.

To think otherwise is to be living in a state of denial.

On every level, the eating of dead animal flesh is rapidly becoming antiquated.

Do the right thing. For your children and grandchildren, for our Planet Earth.

[Roguer]

How many acres of rain forest were decimated for corn and soy production?... Last number I read was 25 million.

[patianneb]

Most of the corn and soy raised in the US is for livestock.

[wdmax]

Trust me, stay away from ground beef. USDA defines beef as any part of the cow. I think they can't use the brain due to "Mad Cow" prions which are still present and viable after the tissue has been turned to ash. Questionable meat is often ground up with the good meat and during difficult financial times such as these it's hard to keep "downed cattle" from getting processed.

[arabianway]

My information is that it can take up to ten years for the prions in Mad Cow disease to turn up in a human being.

We can expect an "epidemic" that is not by definition an epidemic at all, but rather a consequence.

[ILoveTexas]

That should be "If you like buffalo meat YOU are making an even better choice."

[ILoveTexas]

Go watch the movie "Food, Inc." and afterwards you will make sure you only eat organic, grass-fed beef. If you like buffalo meat are making an even better choice.

Cattle aren't meant to eat corn - results in them getting massive e-coli infections. They are meant to eat grasses as nature intended. Why do you think many farmers make hay for their cattle to eat during the winter?

Chickens need to be eating the seeds from grasses not the corn they are being force fed on these industrial farms.

Most of the American food supply is what I would call "frankenfoods." You can fight back by buying locally produced organic fruits, vegetables, and meat.

[JessWonderin]

"Antibiotic resistant"??? . . natural mutation survival of the fittest . . . .

Guess that shoots ANOTHER hole in the anti-evolution school of thought . . . .

[boomer1949]

I just read the entire "Power Steer" article and have decided to become Vegetarian.

[ddanimal]

Dont become vegetarian. Buy local grassfed meat that is produced naturally and as nature intended.

[Weirdwriter]

Amen. It's plentitful and affordable in the state of Colorado -- the tainted stuff is just the cheapest of the cheap regular stuff.

[Ironhelix]

Let the "de-regulators" eat it. I'll bet they'll make/want some "big gov't" changes then.

[sheila]

why people continue to eat ground meat is beyond me. it is crammed full of pathogens, blood, hair, bones,spinal fluid, feces, guts, rats and other repulsive, unhealthy things that you can't see and can't wash off. if you must eat it, at least buy your own meat, wash it, then grind it yourself.

[johndtuttle]

"Ah recommend critter birgers"

[CR46]

I raise my own and grind meat right before cooking it.

[Weirdwriter]

You can also buy organic, grassland-raised beef and bison from reputable outlets.

[BannedNBoston]

HP's freespeech algorithm deleted another one of my Tom Vilsack posts.

[BannedNBoston]

Is Obama moving fast to outlaw anti-biotics in cow feed no!
Vilsack is subsidizing corn so the feedlots and growth hormone beef critters continue.