Michael Moss wrote in The New York Times about the production of ground beef made by Beef Products, Inc., a supplier of ground beef used mostly used in many popular fast-food chains and school lunch programs across the United States. The article highlights BPI’s production method for ground beef which includes treating beef trimmings with ammonia gas to destroy harmful pathogens like E. Coli. and salmonella.
“But government and industry records obtained by The New York Times show that in testing for the school lunch program, E. coli and salmonella pathogens have been found dozens of times in Beef Products meat, challenging claims by the company and the U.S.D.A. about the effectiveness of the treatment. Since 2005, E. coli has been found 3 times and salmonella 48 times, including back-to-back incidents in August in which two 27,000-pound batches were found to be contaminated. The meat was caught before reaching lunch-rooms trays.”
Read the full article to find out more about how Beef Products’ process was developed and approved – and later called into question. Because of the increased scrutiny, the Department of Agriculture is more carefully inspecting meat from Beef Products’ plants and reviewing its decontamination procedures.
