how many animals represented in one ground beef patty?

March 29, 2024, 04:37 PM

trapper189

quote:
it’s not all going to come from an aged out bull or mother cow—the hamburger has to be good enough to bring you back.

About 4 years ago, I was at a gathering with a bunch of other parents and a couple of them were talking about this store out in cattle country near us that had really cheap prices on beef. I went and bought a standing rib roast for $4.50 a pound. It was the worst beef I’ve ever had. The texture was similar to undercooked angel hair pasta. That store was never mentioned again.

March 29, 2024, 10:49 PM

Rawny

They don't have to worry about it being good enough to bring them back if they're for "captive consumers" with no alternatives--prison and school lunches.

March 30, 2024, 01:44 PM

architect

Our neighborhood has an annual picnic get-together. At most of these someone brings a package of machine-formed hamburger patties. I assume they actually eat these on a regular basis, and consider them food. Either that or they have no consideration for their neighbors. As most SF gourmands know, these bear no resemblance to actual hand-formed burgers from decent ground meat either in taste or texture.

I guess my point is that there are burgers and there are burgers, and it makes a hell of a difference which you are talking about.

March 30, 2024, 07:47 PM

reflex/deflex 64

I’m going with one. Although I can certainly se a case being made for two. Nobody got time to trim a half ounce from 8 animals and get it to go through all the machinery and come out the other side as a single patty.

March 30, 2024, 08:26 PM

trapper189

I'm guessing the beef in mass market store ground beef is the leftover scraps after all the good cuts have been butchered. It isn't had to imagine all the scraps getting thrown into a vat and run through a grinder. I could see a ½ pound patty having bit from 10-50 animals.

Then you through in the finely textured beef (aka-pink slime) into the mix and I'm sure you're in the 500-1,000 range. Finely textured beef comes from the scraps that are to small for a human to efficiently trim. They throw the fat with the slightest bits of muscle still attached into a centrifuge which spins the fat off while keeping the bits of muscle.

April 02, 2024, 04:36 PM

MoosehornMan

It must have been after the 08 thing and I was staying at a Hotel that was having a butcher get together.
I overhear 2 of them talking and saying if people knew how much prime rib that wasn't selling ended up in their hamburger they wouldn't be bitching about the price of the burger.

April 02, 2024, 04:42 PM

cas

Gotta be some big damn patties.

April 02, 2024, 06:36 PM

mark60

I just googled it and was surprised to learn that McDonalds burgers really are beef. I haven't been to a fast food place in probably 20 years and don't like or trust any ground beef I've bought in years so I grind my own. The only way there's more than one cow in my burgers is when I mix cuts to make burgers.

April 02, 2024, 07:09 PM

tatortodd

quote:
Originally posted by lyman:
some companies, years ago, would grind the burger in the store, from store cut trimmings, so depending on th volume of that store, the number may be under 100, or even less,

now, most companies contract out the ground beef, as in it is ground in a location, packaged and shipped to stores,

so the number of cows would be how many the facility can process in a day between grinds.....

Lyman answered correctly and so did 34% of respondents so we're above average.

I saw a YouTube video last week that prompted me to search out this article written by an editor of Beef Producer:

quote:
How many cattle in a ground-beef patty?

National survey asks consumers how many animals represented in one ground beef patty. Do you know the answer?

Alan Newport, Editor, Beef Producer

December 1, 2017

Do you know how many cattle are represented in a commercially produced ground beef patty?

In a recent Food Demand Survey (FOODs) by Oklahoma State University agricultural economists, only 10% of consumers knew the correct answer to that question.

As an active member of the beef industry, can you do any better?

Survey respondents were asked: “One could produce a ground beef patty from one animal exclusively. Or, one could take ground beef from multiple cows, mix them all together, and form a ground beef patty containing many cows’ meat. Suppose you purchase a hamburger at a fast food restaurant. How many different cows’ meat do you believe is in that one beef patty?”

FooDS is a monthly on-line survey with a sample size of at least 1,000 individuals, weighted to match the US population in terms of age, gender, education and region of residence. FooDS tracks consumer preferences and sentiments on the safety, quality, and price of food at home and away from home with particular focus on meat demand. Survey researchers have a regular slate of questions about how willing consumers are to pay for beef and other food items, but they also ask "ad hoc" questions each month.

Those who answered “more than one cow” were asked: “How many different cows’ meat do you believe is in that one beef patty?” Roughly one-third of Americans believe the patty consists of meat from only one animal, but this is not the case. It is not uncommon for a single ground beef patty to contain the meat of over 1,000 different animals. Only 10% of Americans correctly answered that a single patty will likely come from more than 100 different animals.

April 02, 2024, 10:08 PM

lyman

quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
quote:
Originally posted by lyman:

apples to turnip comparison,

19 yrs a meat guy, 35 in the biz, and never knew any customer to use store bought ground beef for Tartar, they typically ground their own or back in the day when we had smaller grinders, would have us grind a roast for tartar,

Seriously? How is it an apples to turnip comparison? I am literally comparing ground beef to ground beef. And I never said people were buying regular store ground beef and using it for tartare. In fact, I was precisely saying the opposite. Although, I don't how you could possibly know that all the people who bought ground beef from you didn't intend to eat it raw, but ok.

All I was doing was giving one example as to why one would not want ground beef that was mixed from more than one cow.

in meat guy speak, Tartar is not ground beef, opr at least in they way you are mentioning it

granted I worked with a lot of guys that would snack out of the grinder, when it was running, but that is not tartar,

there is a difference,

thus apples,, and turnips