Sometimes an article you read, about a subject you think you know a lot about, just shows you how wrong you are. The New York Times recent article "E.Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection" set off a lot of discussion about the safety of ground beef. I was really amazed and disgusted at its findings. After the article appeared, there was a lot of comment about if from the beef industry that disputed its findings. The Daily Green wrote a tough piece listing disgusting facts about ground beef.

We never buy ground beef in the grocery store. Ours comes from our own cattle that are grass finished and processed locally.

There is scientific support that if you get your ground beef from cattle that have been totally grass finished and never grain fed you greatly reduce your chance of obtaining contaminated beef. The article below is detailed, but gets the point across.

Forage feeding to reduce pre -harvest E. coli populations in cattle, a review.
Todd R. Callaway1, Rob O. Elder1, Jim E. Keen2, Robin C. Anderson1, David J.
Nisbet1
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Food and Feed
Safety Research Unit, College Station, TX1 and Meat Animal Research Center, Clay
Center, NE2
Abstract
Although E. coli are commensal organisms that reside within the host gut, some
pathogenic strains of E. coli can cause hemorrhagic colitis in humans. The most notable
enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strain is O157:H7. Cattle are asymptomatic natural
reservoirs of E. coli O157:H7; and it has been reported that as many as 30% of all cattle
are carriers of this pathogen, and in some circumstances this can be as high as 80%.
Feedlot and high-producing dairy cattle are fed high grain rations in order to increase
feed efficiency. Because cattle have low amylase activity, much of the starch passes to
the hindgut where it is fermented. EHEC are capable of fermenting sugars released from
starch breakdown in the colon, and populations of E. coli have been shown to be higher
in grain fed cattle, and this has been correlated with E. coli O157:H7 shedding in barley
fed cattle. When cattle were abruptly switched from a high grain (corn) diet to a forage
diet, generic E. coli populations declined 1000-fold within 5 days and the ability of the
fecal generic E. coli population to survive an acid shock similar to the human gastric
stomach decreased. Other researchers have shown that a switch from grain to hay caused
a smaller decrease in E. coli populations, but did not observe the same effect on gastric
shock survivability. In a study that used cattle naturally infected with E. coli O157:H7,
fewer cattle shed E. coli O157:H7 when switched from a feedlot ration to a forage-based
diet compared to cattle continuously fed a feedlot ration. Results indicate that switching
cattle from grain to forage could potentially reduce EHEC populations in cattle prior to
slaughter; however the economic impact of this needs to be examined.

If you are interested in buying grass finished ground beef, or other beef cuts direct from our farm please contact us by email. We will have some beef available early November and more in January.