You Won't Believe What's In Your Turkey Burger

[Murky]

This sounds appetizing.

Check out this eye opening report via Motherjones.

Consumer Reports investigation: Talking turkey
Our new tests show reasons for concern

In our first-ever lab analysis of ground turkey bought at retail stores nationwide, more than half of the packages of raw ground meat and patties tested positive for fecal bacteria. Some samples harbored other germs, including salmonella and staphylococcus aureus, two of the leading causes of foodborne illness in the U.S. Overall, 90 percent of the samples had one or more of the five bacteria for which we tested.

Adding to the concern, almost all of the disease-causing organisms in our 257 samples proved resistant to one or more of the antibiotics commonly used to fight them. Turkeys (and other food animals, including chickens and pigs) are given antibiotics to treat acute illness; but healthy animals may also get drugs daily in their food and water to boost their rate of weight gain and to prevent disease. Many of the drugs are similar to antibiotics important in human medicine.

That practice, especially prevalent at large feedlots and mass-production facilities, is speeding the growth of drug-resistant superbugs, a serious health concern. People sickened by those bacteria might need to try several antibiotics before one succeeds.

Among our findings

• Sixty-nine percent of ground-turkey samples harbored enterococcus, and 60 percent harbored Escherichia coli. Those bugs are associated with fecal contamination. About 80 percent of the enterococcus bacteria were resistant to three or more groups of closely related antibiotics (or classes), as were more than half of the E. coli.
  
• Three samples were contaminated with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which can cause fatal infections.
  
• Ground turkey labeled “no antibiotics,” “organic,” or “raised without antibiotics” was as likely to harbor bacteria as products without those claims. (After all, even meat from organic birds can pick up bacteria during slaughter or processing.) The good news is that bacteria on those products were much less likely to be antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

http://www.consumerreports.org/turkey0613

Are you considering going vegan yet?

 

[NickyJ]

Better question: Who the heck eats turkey burgers?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

our tests didn't differentiate among the [different] forms [of E. coli]

There's E. coli in your large intestine right now. Are you ready to rip out your colon?

Also Enterococcus, which are noted for intrinsic antibiotic resistance so I don't know what all that hoopla about it is for.

 

[warpus]

I make my own burger patties, out of ground beef. They taste WAY better than the "gourmet" kobe beef patties you can buy that will cost you an arm and a leg.

Ingredients: Ground beef, salt, pepper, garlic, egg, minced onion, worcestershire sauce

So yeah, I kinda don't trust pre-made foods. Better make your own. But can I trust the ground beef and/or turkey? Who knows I guess, right?

 

[Murky]

There's E. coli in your large intestine right now. Are you ready to rip out your colon?

Also Enterococcus, which are noted for intrinsic antibiotic resistance so I don't know what all that hoopla about it is for.

Are you suggesting that because people poop we shouldn't mind having some in our ground beef/turkey?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

And are you suggesting people don't cook their turkey burgers? I would be concerned if it the bacteria was definitely pathogenic, but dead bacteria of the types found in your gut microflora is of little concern. I'm just pointing out how sloppy their "survey" is. And I'm wondering why there are no confidence intervals on the data. That 3/257 result for Salmonella is meaningless if the CI contains 0. And yes, these bacteria tests aren't simply a binary yes/no comparison, there are false positives and false negatives too.

In any case, warpus has the best advice for a tasty burger anyway.

 

[peter grimes]

I make my own burger patties, out of ground beef. They taste WAY better than the "gourmet" kobe beef patties you can buy that will cost you an arm and a leg.

Ingredients: Ground beef, salt, pepper, garlic, egg, minced onion, worcestershire sauce

So yeah, I kinda don't trust pre-made foods. Better make your own. But can I trust the ground beef and/or turkey? Who knows I guess, right?

just curious - do you also grind your own ground beef?

We don't eat beef usually (it makes me feel ill), but we do eat other mammals and birds and fishes. I completely agree with the advice to not trust pre-made 'food'. Really, it shouldn't be called food - it should be called product, because that's what it's treated like.

All of our home-consumed meat and dairy comes from the farmer's market, which means it costs quite a bit more than $2/lb. So we eat a lot less meat than most omnivores that we know.

But just because something is sold at the greenmarket doesn't mean it's 'organic' or 'eco-friendly' or 'toxin-free' - something a lot of people don't understand. And just because it's sold at the farmer's market doesn't mean that it is completely free of contaminants, steroids, or antibiotics.

 

[Borachio]

And are you suggesting people don't cook their turkey burgers? I would be concerned if it the bacteria was definitely pathogenic, but dead bacteria of the types found in your gut microflora is of little concern. I'm just pointing out how sloppy their "survery" is. And I'm wondering why there are no confidence intervals on the data. That 3/257 result for Salmonella is meaningless if the CI contains 0. And yes, these bacteria tests aren't simply a binary yes/no comparison, there are false positives and false negatives too.

In any case, warpus has the best advice for a tasty burger anyway.

Yes. It's possible to eat quite large quantities of e.coli, provided you cook it well. I think MacDonald's have proved this conclusively.

As for Salmonella, it depends under what conditions you grow up in. My mother used to regularly eat liquidized raw eggs with no apparent ill-effects at all. Despite the fact that we live in an area where it's rife in all chicken products - and everyone is warned not to eat home-made mayonnaise . When she was in a home, she used to have to sign an indemnity form in order to get a lightly-boiled egg - the only sort she would eat.

(She had quite an insanitary upbringing, I understand.)

 

[downtown]

I thought most of that stuff gets cooked out?

 

[ZeletDude]

It does.

 

[Perfection]

Better question: Who the heck eats turkey burgers?

I do. Turk Burgs are da bomb.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It does if it is properly cooked and you don't allow it to cross-contaminate some other food.

But the real issue is why we are allowing the food industry to have such absurd unsanitary practices, unlike most other modern countries with sufficient regulation and inspection.

You used to be able to order a rare hamburger in a restaurant and live to tell others about how good it was. Now they even refuse to serve medium rare ones.

 

[warpus]

just curious - do you also grind your own ground beef?

Nope, that part I do not do myself, and I can see the beef containing things I would not want in there.. but I really have no idea.

Either way the burgers taste a LOT better than anything premade, even if it's labelled as kobe or gourmet.. and it's a lot cheaper.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Do you combine all the ingredients and then freeze the patties? This sounds great if you are making a bunch of burgers at the same time. But I wonder about doing so one burger at a time.

 

[bhsup]

You guys should have your toothbrushes tested for fecal matter.

 

[galdre]

You guys should have your toothbrushes tested for fecal matter.

Thanks for reminding me of that . . .

 

[bhsup]

I live to serve!

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/fecal-matter-on-toothbrush.htm

 

[hobbsyoyo]

It does if it is properly cooked and you don't allow it to cross-contaminate some other food.

But the real issue is why we are allowing the food industry to have such absurd unsanitary practices, unlike most other modern countries with sufficient regulation and inspection.

You used to be able to order a rare hamburger in a restaurant and live to tell others about how good it was. Now they even refuse to serve medium rare ones.

'd

I was gonna say that some people like rare burgers. I'm not sure you can or should cook rare turkey meet though. Isn't it like chicken and pork - it is either done or it isn't?

 

[warpus]

Do you combine all the ingredients and then freeze the patties? This sounds great if you are making a bunch of burgers at the same time. But I wonder about doing so one burger at a time.

I make a bunch of patties (4-6) and keep them in the fridge, then eat burgers over the next couple days. I could freeze them I guess, but I haven't yet used that much ground beef. I'm not sure why really..

 

[Murky]

I live to serve!

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/fecal-matter-on-toothbrush.htm

You can always disinfect your toothbrush. You can't really disinfect ground up meat without making it taste like medicine.