Why the USDA is putting a new warning label on beef, starting this week
Nauss,Karen A (Mount Auburn)
Why the USDA is putting a new warning label on beef, starting this week
A new USDA-mandated label will start appearing on cuts of beef this week, noting whether the meat was run through a machine that uses blades or needles to pierce and break down the muscle fibers and make it easier to chew. But it also means the meat has a greater chance of being contaminated and making you sick.
The process, which has been used for years, increases the chances of pathogens such as E. coli or salmonella from being passes from one piece of meat to the next. Plus, because the machine digs into the meat, the bacteria can be pushed further inside the meat - meaning it has to be cooked to a higher internal temperature, 145 degrees, to kill it.
"Blade tenderized," that label might read, followed by safe cooking instructions: "Cook until steak reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit as measured by a food thermometer and allow to rest for 3 minutes."
If pathogens like E. coli or salmonella happen to be on the surface of the steak, tenderizing transfers those bacteria from the surface to the inside. Since the inside takes longer to cook and is more likely to be undercooked, bacteria have a higher chance for survival there. And without a label, you can't tell if you need to be especially careful with your steak.
Mechanical tenderizing is not an unusual occurrence. FSIS estimates that 2.7 billion pounds, or about 11 percent, of the beef labeled for sale has been mechanically tenderized. The new labels will affect an estimated 6.2 billion servings of steaks and roasts every year, according to FSIS.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked six outbreaks of foodborne illness since 2000 that were attributable to mechanically tenderized beef products prepared in restaurants and consumers' homes.
In 2009, 21 people in 16 states were infected with the most common strain of dangerous E. coli called O157. Nine had to be hospitalized, and one victim developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially fatal kidney disease. USDA food safety officials connected the illnesses to blade-tenderized steaks from National Steak and Poultry, and the company recalled 248,000 pounds of beef products.
Before the label became a requirement, Costco had been voluntarily labeling its meat. According to Consumer Reports, the grocery giant began labeling its mechanically tenderized beef in 2012 after an E. coli outbreak in Canada was linked to their blade-tenderized steaks.
Visit Sacramento Bee for the article.
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