Regular Ground Beef Is More Likely to Contain Dangerous Bacteria
Organic grass-fed ground beef may be more expensive than conventionally-grown ground beef, but according to a recent study by Consumer Reports , it’s only half as likely to become home to dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
An extensive study published in the October 2015 issue of Consumer Reports magazine included over 458 pounds of traditional and sustainable ground beef purchased from grocery stores, natural food stores and in 26 U.S. cities. Each serving of ground beef was tested for five types of bacteria commonly associated with ground beef: Clostridium perfringens, E. coli (seven different strains), Enterococcus, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus. The results were not very good:
All 458 pounds of beef we examined contained bacteria indicative of faecal contamination (enterococci and / or non-toxin-producing E. coli) that can cause blood or urinary tract infections. Nearly 20 percent contained C. perfringens, a bacteria that causes nearly 1 million cases of food poisoning each year. Ten percent of the samples contained a strain of S. aureus bacteria that can produce a toxin that causes disease. This toxin cannot be destroyed even when properly prepared.
Harmful bacteria are present in all types of ground beef, so it is important to cook it at the correct temperature of 160 ° Fahrenheit . Even more worrisome, however, was that some parts of the ground beef contained antibiotic-resistant bacteria:
… beef from conventionally raised cows is more likely to have bacteria in general, as well as antibiotic resistant bacteria, than beef from sustainably raised cows. We found a type of antibiotic-resistant S. aureus bacteria called MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which kills about 11,000 people annually in the United States, in three standard samples (and none of the resistant samples). And 18 percent of common beef samples were contaminated with superbugs – dangerous bacteria that are resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics – compared to 9 percent of beef samples that were sustainably produced.
MRSA is not something you want to mess with , and neither are superbugs of any kind. But if you cook ground beef to the correct 160 ° Fahrenheit temperature, you should be safe, right? Yes, so don’t panic, but according to Hannah Gould, Ph.D. at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , “Up to 28 percent of Americans eat raw or undercooked ground beef” intentionally or unintentionally. This is why it is extremely important to cook ground beef thoroughly, and why you might want to reconsider your choice in favor of Grassfed Organic Beef. You can see what labels you should look for here , as well as learn more about Consumer Reports research and methods at the link below.
How safe is your ground beef? | Consumer reports