Should Americans banish the burger?

mad cow, that's all I'm sayin'

You can have my beef when you pry it from my cold dead hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and how many documented cases of e-coli have we had since this man's misfortune?

Absolutely not. All people should have the right to chose whatever they wish to eat. What troubles me is how chopped meat is being produced today. I grew up in the late 50's and 60's and one never heard of such contamination going on. So what has happened? Probably a number of things. But from what I've heard over the years supply and demand for the fast food industry plays a major part here pushing production and quality suffers. This has to change in order to keep our meats safe. This not only applies to beef. Quality has suffered not only for animal meats but for fowl and fish as well. Tougher inspection and more frequently certainly would help combined with tougher laws for violation.
If tough steps are not taken soon enough one day there will be a more than serious problem with our foods in the future.

There is roughly 10,000 - 20,000 inflections in the United States per year.

300 Million in the United States.

That's 1 in 15,000 chance of getting infected.

There are 61 deaths (42,600 for car accidents---gonna stop driving a car?) per year because of E.Coli.

That's 1 in 328 chance of dying should you get infected.

Compare that to:

There are 6,328,000 car accidents a year.

There are 42,600 deaths via car accidents.

You have a 1 in 47 chance of being in an accident.

1 in 906 chance of dying if you are in a car accident.

You have a better chance of being in a car accident and dying than you do if you are to even catch E. Coli.

i've never had a hamburger from a fast food place. and i rarely eat hamburgers, i maybe eat them once a year. and its mostly because of stuff like this.

CNN should be banned just for posing that question...

we should ban shitting cuz there's e-coli there too oh and cut out our intestines cuz they live there too.

people just need to be careful when dealing with raw food and make sure its properly cook

THE FIRST PERSON TO TAKE MY BURGER GETS EATEN ON A BUN WITH KETCHUP,MAYO,MUSTARD,LETTUCE,TOMATO,ONION AND TOAST THE BUN AND SOME CHEESE, MAYBE SOME FRIES....MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM AND A COKE.............

The way I see it: If you want to eat meat, kill it with your bare hands, and eat it raw.

Can't do it? Then don't eat it.

Colon Cancer

ugh. someone had to WRITE this article. what a waste of time and brain power.

As a vegetarian i personaly say yes, but i dont think that other people should have to give up meat if that is their main source of protein, what needs to be abolished is factory farms, that is the root of all this shit anyway.

Americans would never be told they are eating cloned cow meat.

That will happen, not.

I wonder if Americans would eat cloned cow meat.

Cook it all the way through then, its called well done.... what part of eating the bloody rare burgers is a surprise when people get sick?

maybe we can stop worrying about health and stop because its completely fucked to eat another being and disgusting to rip into the flesh of another mammal?

Mcdonalds would go out of business.

It is crazy how many Americans think they have a right to tell me what I can and cannot do with my life. If I want to be fat and lazy that is my choice.

no i think we should bad all health food

maybe if we do a better job linking cow farts to global warming we can ban beef!

tax those a**holes to hell!

the government can run our lives better than we can.
look at how fat we all got without the gov stepping in!

We gotta start eating better! Veggie burgers and almond milk!!

I rather take chicken...

Then again, let the consumers consume..

Choice matters.

There are hundreds of millions living in this country, the vast majority do not get sick when they eat hamburgers. You might as well worry about being eaten by bears or struck by a meteor. One reason we get sick so often is because we have no immune systems because our food supply is actually too clean. Drop your hamburger on the floor and pick it up and eat it, your immune system will appreciate it.

This is just stupid. Billions and billions of hamburgers are eaten every year and the number of E. Coli related deaths is so minuscule, yet this Bill Marler guy feels the need to indoctrinate his daughters into not heating hamburgers? Really? I think eating red meat as it relates to heart disease is really the issue hear. How many people on here have gotten, or know someone who as gotten E. Coli? Now, how many people have had or know someone that has had a heart attack?

I gave up eating hamburgers as a regular thing because of my cholesterol. But I'd have a hard time giving them up altogether. No, they shouldn't be banished. Let people take responsibility for their own actions. Producers and consumers alike.

The minuscule possibility of eating e coli infected beef wouldn’t deter me from eating burgers.

I feel really sorry for this Bill Marler guys kids. Just because he is overly self righteous about his diet, he makes his kids suffer.

your meat...

Veggie burgers ROCK and Falafel Burgers are waaaaaay better than dead cow burgers anyways!

I am a health fanatic. I only eat 3-4 chilidogs per year, boiled crawfish during season, BBQ ribs when home; in Nigeria, Esi wu (boiled hot goat head) including eyeballs , nose and ears, roasted fish including the eyeballs, goat/chicken/fish pepper soup, and snails, suya (roasted goat meat w/ onions and red hot chili pepper)! In Southern America, fried chitlins, pickled pigs feets, calf brains and scrambled eggs, fried squirrel /w gravy and homemade biscuits. My all time favorite is boudin w/a Yoo Hoo or four! You folks just do not know how to enjoy the bounty of this Earth! Or perhaps real hunger has never touched your soul. I have eaten every item listed and enjoyed most of them. One I truly despised was, "sea cucumber" from Malaysia. I posted this to allow some perspective on the foods eaten, beside hamburgers. If you are ever truly hungry, I doubt that medium hamburger will be rejected.

this made me hungry... imma go eat a burger right now.

should we ban burgers.

should we ban pizza?

cheese?

put the info out, let the people that eat it die with their personal mistakes, mandates of anykind on what people consume is unconstitutional.

but all the info stuff they said. right on.

no.

i get my meat from a local farm.

no worries here.

Burgers aren't all McDonald's fodder. A good burger is amazingly delicious and customizable, even gourmet. If only it were rarer (no pun intended), the quality wouldn't be diminished nearly as much as it is. Fast food burgers are monstrous on your health - no one can deny that. Perhaps the title should be changed to "Should Americans banish fast food?"
To which I'd say, yes, please.

Also, to everyone taking this opportunity to spout venom about some hyper-generalized "lazy, fat Americans," I say you'd better work on reigning in that ego of yours before it gives you a hernia.
Not everyone can afford to shop at the organic market, and fast food companies know this. Why do you think the dollar menu was created in the first place? Poor people.

I've eaten a million burgers and never gotten sick ever. not once from eating one. gimme a freaking break. you food nazis need to relax. you don't like burgers, simple... don't eat them! but don't tell me I can't eat one.

Do Americans eat too much junk food? On the whole yes. But people can only be responsible for what they eat. Personally i LOVE poultry pork and beef. But i understand that you need to eat it in moderation.

People need to understand that you cant live off beef and meat alone. Especially not the craptastic meat they serve at fast food restaurants.

MOST Americans are simply fat lazy dumbasses & that really shows a lot in the way a lot of Americans eat! People really should raise Bison instead of cows! Look up some facts about bison & you'll see why! But even if you were to ban meat in the American diet somehow, the majority of Americans would STILL be fat,lazy & dumb! This is extremely old news really!

no one is ever gonna get rid of the burger.

just be careful and make sure your meat's cooked all the way, it's not that difficult. i've never understood , "rare", or "medium-rare" cooking preferences, that's asking for sickness right there.

but e. coli can get anywhere, it's not unique to beef.
don't ever eat one again if you choose, but don't expect it to be eliminated.

So, the "food police" are at it again, eh?

Although there needs to be another Upton Sinclair to reveal to the public how bad the meat industry is in this country, this persistent fear of microorganisms in the meat is pathetic.

Yes, E. coli and other nastiness (although E. Coli is actually a beneficial bacteria in some instances) gets into meat and occasionally some people can get sick and die because of this.

But even way better safety and health standards only reduce, never diminish, this threat. The bottom line is that you're shipping around living tissue, sometimes things catch along for the ride.

Just cook your stuff well and you'll be fine. It's actually more dangerous to try and eliminate them because it just ensures that we become less resistant to the bacteria.

There needs to be an equilibrium between the insane neat freak culture established over the hype of the germ theory of disease and the uncomfortable reality that we need to get sick and be exposed to some disease to keep our immune system in decent shape.

Also, keep in mind that E. Coli can show up in vegetables too. Nothing you eat will ever be "safe."

Man some of you are obviously not reading the article. Beyond the sensationalistic headline, there's no move afoot to actually, legally BAN meat consumption. And if you read the article you also wouldn't say it was a stupid idea to cut your consumption of a blatantly unhealthy and unsafe food (not to mention unethical).

Holy hell I'm tired of people on current commenting on headlines without reading the content behind them...

Actually, now that I think about it, since I don't eat junk food anyways, it's in my best interests for others to continue consuming this crap.

Keep eating burgers.

Keep eating hot dogs.

Keep eating pizza.

Keep eating chips.

Keep drinking soda.

Keep drinking beer.

Keep smoking cigarettes.

Keep it all up.

All this means is that I'll simply gain a greater and greater comparative advantage relative to the rest of the lazy population that lacks self-discipline and will power.

Sounds good to me.

they should MC Dondalds...

wow. what kind of fucking question is that? NO.

Why take away the Burger? What is that going to do? I don't see taking away one food or the other is going to do any one group of people any good. How about a sin tax on fastfood? That is what I want to see I want to see the people that Choose to eat the crap to pay for eating it. They have a sin tax on every thing else that is bad for ya. So why not fastfood?

Does it ever work to prohibit things people like, even if those things are dangerous?

I haven't had a burger since I worked for McDonalds back in the sixties but trying to prevent others from eating them would only make them more desirable and turn the burger into a black market cult item. It would also mean the end of what little regulation and controls we have now.

I do think there should be more regulations on all industrial food production. The manufacturers should be taxed to cover the cost of putting more inspectors in the field!

It's not just as simple as "should we eat hamburgers or not". There are too many variables at play here to make a blanket decision. I think a better way to initiate the conversation would be "here are the reasons we shouldn't eat hamburgers from industrial food systems".

Cows have evolved to eat GRASS. They are ruminants. If you were to trace back to the cow's wild ancestors, you would not find them raiding the Native Americans' corn crop. So what do you think happens now if we take hundreds of cows, cram them into industrial pens, and feed them things that they have not evolved to eat? The cow gets sick. The acidity level in their gut is now much higher than usual, creating a breeding ground for new strains of highly resistant bacteria. We're practically inviting E.coli into the food system.

So how do you avoid ingesting and perpetuating this disgusting situation? Buy LOCAL. Buy GRASS FED. There needs to be transparency in our food system. And for god's sake, stop eating so much meat. The American diet revolves around hyper protein consumption. When our population initially doubled in size, the consumption of meat went up five times. I'm a huge fan of the medium rare burger, and I'm telling you it also tastes five times as good when I only eat it once every couple of weeks.

What the hell? Seriously?
Oh so you'll punish everyone because a few idiots don't know how to cook right? GENIUS! ALERT THE WORLD!
Let's ban cars too, and scissors, and paper, and glass, and doors, and tables, and everything anyone has ever hurt themselves with...

A better solution would be to precook the meat to the point where the bacteria dies.
It'll cost more money, and due to that less people will probably eat it.

Natural selection, no, modern selection, even more kickass and in your face!

Burgers are overrated. You guys have no idea how moronic you sound when you say you "love" what amounts to nothing more than junk food.

The three most important food groups are fruits, vegetables, and seafood. If you take Omega-3 supplements, then you can cross out seafood. Either way, there's nothing particularly beneficial about meat, especially red meat. There are other - better - ways to get protein.

Oh, and JohnA? Baseball and apple pie don't carry E coli.

I have to tell you that there is no way that we are going to get rid of the almighty burgers.
I love burgers and I have been told that I make some of the best. I've had friends that cook for a living and they love my burgers.
There are more important issues that this country needs
to be concerned with. There is no power on earth that can stop me from making and eating burgers.
P.S. Have you ever had a JUICY LUCY burger?

I'll defend to the death my right to eat 27 Big Hardees every day.

Free range grass fed! I wish that could be the standard.. its at least my standard.

I shop at a grocery store that grinds its own meat. Find a grocery store in your area that does the same. Talk to the people who work with your food, ask who they get their product from. People like to blame others for getting sick... You ate it, its your fault. If you don't think the people who make your burger are safe with your food, don't eat it. I love a rare steak, but I will never eat anything but a well done hamburger. Make sure your food is cooked properly before you put it in your mouth. Another thing, we all have E.Coli in our stomachs right now, assuming you aren't taking antibiotics. E.Coli is seen as a red flag in the food industry, as most strains of E.Coli including the majority in cows are harmless. Hamburgers are as bad as spinach.

watch "Modern Meat"
1lb. of grocery store ground beef can contain more than 100 different cows from 5 different states,....an explosion of bacteria just waiting to make someone sick

How about throwing the CEO of beef packers who violate food standards in jail. The first time you throw one of the CEOS of a meat packing company because of poor health standards in jail I can guarantee this shit will stop. And give the FDA more power to actually keep our food supply safe.

What a stupid idea

Yeah, let's get of baseball and apple pie too while we're at it. I hope the Nobel Prize winner didn't see this, he'll want to tax them.

Or just stop eating them when they're pink in the middle. Perhaps if we stopped using ketchup it would make it easier to tell.

A MILLION TIMES YES!!!!

LONG LIVE THE CARNE ASADA BURRITO!!!

probably, but man it would be hard i love those nasty little things