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Picky Eater Decodes the Beef Scare

What goes into a 99¢ burger can be pretty unpleasant, author Pollan says

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 20, 2008 5:53 PM CST

(Newser) – Don't fault slaughterhouse workers for this week's enormous beef recall, author and foodie Michael Pollan tells Newsweek—it's the system. Blinding-fast production lines that expect workers to slaughter up to seven cows per minute do not a safe or ethical steak make. "It's one of those episodes that peels back the curtain on how our food is prepared," Pollan says.

"What it takes to get a 99-cent double cheeseburger are these kinds of shortcuts: downer cattle and 400 head slaughtered an hour," Pollan says. The alternative for the consumer is simple: Buy more expensive beef from farmers' markets and independent producers. "Ultimately, that's the only real assurance: talk to the person who has raised the meat," Pollan says.

A worker throws a piece of meat among the cattle carcases scraps dropped into a parked truck at the Hallmark Meat Packing slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. Video footage showed workers at Hallmark Meat Packing repeatedly kicking cows and ramming them with the blades of a forklift...
A worker throws a piece of meat among the cattle carcases scraps dropped into a parked truck at the Hallmark Meat Packing slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. Video footage showed...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. eats a beef taco, along with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, during lunch at King Taco in East Los Angeles Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. eats a beef taco, along with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, during lunch at King Taco in...   (Associated Press)
American author Michael Pollan gestures while speaking during a working session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday Jan. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
American author Michael Pollan gestures while speaking during a working session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday Jan. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)   (Associated Press)
A private security guard patrols the parking lot at the Hallmark Meat Packing slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. The Hallmark Meat Packing logo is seen on a truck in the background. Video footage showed workers at Hallmark Meat Packing repeatedly kicking cows and ramming them with the...
A private security guard patrols the parking lot at the Hallmark Meat Packing slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. The Hallmark Meat Packing logo is seen on a truck in the background....   (Associated Press)
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