As reported in the New York Times, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and different slaughterhouses and even different countries. The cuts used are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination There is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.
A woman ,Stephanie Smith, bought frozen hamburgers made by the food giant Cargill, labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” As reported in the Times “grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.”
Big business interests continually seek to limit consumers constitutional rights to redress often by promoting restrictions on what the corporation that creates the harm has to pay. We need to protect consumers harmed by huge international corporations. Abridging rights thought out and by brilliant founding fathers and incorporated in the Constitution is not the answer.
