It used to be what were once considered "fast-food" joints were locally runned and owned mom and pop resturaunts. Places that got their meats and veggies from locally owned ranches and farms. From slaughter to serving, there weren't many steps in the production chain. Times change. To keep up with population explosions, urban sprawl, and the general chaos of modern life, local diners became franchises and spread like a virus across the country. Success required menu consistancy from one city to the next.This gave way to the factory farming boom. You know the song. Nowadays the production chain is vast and complex and harder to monitor illness and misstreatment often slip through the cracks. When cows get sick, they get loaded up with antibiotics. The bacteria evolve, and eventually drugs don't work. All it takes is a little carelessness... say, not cooking the meat thoroughly enough to incinerate the microbes to cause diaster. Its a lesson that American fast-food junkies learned the hard way back in the early 1990's. Meet Escherichia coli, a.k.a. E. coli. It may not look like much, but these little microbes can ruin your life. Providing they don't kill you outright. Now E. coli comes in several different strains, and most are commonly found in our lower intestine. These are harmless. The strain you have to worry about is O157:H7, which lives in the digestive system and fecal matter of cows. to meet demand, industrial meet packers grind up all kinds of low-grade material into beef... that's right, trace the amount of cow crap gets in there too. After eating one of those tainted burgers Brianne was hit with H.U.S, hemolytic uremic syndrome. Her symptoms started almost immediatly, stomach cramping, bloody diarrhea... A few days later the toxin produced by the E. coli bacteria attacked her brain, liver, and kidneys. Her pancreas shut down. She suffered seizures and strokes and eventually fell into coma. Her parents held out hope for a miracle, but none of the doctors expected her to make it. In the meantime, the whole incident was a public-relations nightmare for the company. The outbreak was traced to undercooked beef patties, grilled so based on corparate policy to serve burgers cooked to meidium rather than well done. It wasn't all bad news. Brianne's parents got their miracle after 40 days, she woke up from her coma. She was alive, but thanks to the brain damage she suffered, she had to learn how to eat, walk, and use the bathroom all over again. She was alive... but her life would never be the same again. She woke up from her coma diabetic. She had asthma. She would neve be able to have children, all thanks to an uncooked cheeseburger.
Ugh. I'm glad I eat meat on rare occasion. Spaghetti is more my style. I've never eaten a fast food burger. When I do eat burgers I honestly buy the super premium meat thats free range, always checked by the company, etc... Actually i'll admit one thing in here is a lie. I've had a fast food burger before but I took one bite and threw it in the trash.
I'm thinking about making a forum series with stories like this.
You mean depressing stories? one too many for me. I always get choked up on these sort of things but there were too many facts and details into the E.coli thing that I didn't choke up on.
But this does bring up a good point.
And I'll probably forget about this and eat a burger again in the next month.
. I don't think there are avaiable solutions right now (there probably are too expensive solutions or something like that).
There are, just there wouldn't be such a thing as a $1 cheeseburger anymore and fast food prices would rise somewhat. Then again, nobody cares about the treatment of meat cows until the Media says something >.>
i agree with erPicci i think what people are trying to debate is whether or not mass prodution makes food unsafe and isnt this why they have the FDA?
The FDA merely regulates production in some cases, set standards, rules and regulations for food, drugs, animals, etc., and routinely inspects conditions at the places where said products are made.. Things slip through the cracks, not everyone is the brightest and all burgers aren't thoroughly inspected, as that is time-consuming and impractical for a minimum-wage fast-food worker.
Wouldn't this be better off in the World Events, Politics, and Religion section?
First it was in the AMW, then it got moved to the WEPR, and now its in the Tavern. Strange.
Being afraid of Food Poisoning is like being afraid of Germs. Its stupid and pointless. The only way to guarantee never getting poisoned by food is to drink water, and even that can get funky. So while you should ensure that the food you eat is as safe as possible, you shouldn't over-react and decide not to eat meat because of a few isolated cases.
I like meat too much to give it up. I've had Beef Tartar, Beef Carpacio, Ngiri, Sushi, and Celery Sticks, and I've turned out fine. :/
