Raw Meat

I went to Otto and Sons Inc. today on my class fieldtrip. It was pretty awesome. I didn't think it was going to be, but actually I was intrigued by the meat processing industry. Otto and Sons Inc. is the "exclusive meat supplier for McDonald's". They also supply meat to Nestle, Kraft, and Chipotle (a Denver based restaurant company). I thought that was an interesting fact because people in the United States feel that the meat industry is corrupt and that you can't trust your meat to be safe. Let me tell you that this is so far from the truth.

My friend Jonny read "Fast Food Nation" and was trying to tell me how corrupt the meat industry was and how they were always trying to cut corners. All I can say to that was, he read an expose of one person's experience of one factory. That person was also trying to sell a book. Like any activity, you're going to get some people who don't do what they're supposed to. Do you think that the restaurants would buy the meat if it didn't pass microbial tests? I say NO. If he wants to believe the word of one person without actually researching the truth about government regulations in the United Sates, I guess I can't force him to see the truth.

Here's my attempt anyway. First of all, companies know it's bad for business to be putting out food that would harm the consumers. People stop getting food from a place that has been connected with bad food. It would put them out of business. People want to produce something they can be proud of and if they want to stay in business for any length of time they also want to produce something the consumer will buy. Consumers stop buying damaged goods. Secondly, since the infamous Jack-in-the-Box outbreak the US government has really cracked down on the meat supply and it has become much MUCH safer. In fact, what I found out was that most of the contamination that people get from restaurants that serve meat now is actually from the bathroom. Yeah, that's right, other people in the bathroom that don't wash their hands. Kinda gross, but it's true. You should see all the tests they do on the meat coming into the facility and going out of the facility. Tests run constantly.

Also, I think that my sister should give up being an aerospace engineer and design new equipment for food processing. She'd be so good at it! It SOUNDS lame, but honestly I have been so amazed at all those machines working this past semester as I've gone through the processing plants. It's pretty cool. Well, actually she's going to go to grad school so she'd probably be WAY too qualified for that job. Katie, you rock.