A closer look at beef inspection

Ground beef is one of the few foods that can make me uneasy because I can’t divorce the delicious joy of eating burgers from the very real fear of E.Coli contamination. While the odds suggest that a severe infection or death are highly unlikely, our current food safety system makes me weigh the benefits and risks in the same way I’d check to see whether a bungee cord operator really cares about whether I’m strapped in tightly. 

This results in a binge-dieting-like approach to burger consumption, where I go weeks without a burger and then, over a few days, inhale every hamburger that’s not nailed down. A burger doesn’t sound so good today, in the wake of The New York Times‘  opus on the 2007 E.Coli outbreak. The story is full of stats that are difficult to digest — like, more than 3,000 grocery stores in 41 states issued recalls of ground beef … this summer.