One meat-lover's answer to "Should Americans banish hamburgers..?"

October 29, 4:16 PMOrganic Food ExaminerNatalie Rotunda

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“Should Americans banish burgers?” The headline caught my eye. A practically card-carryin’ hamburger and red meat-lover (make mine medium-well), I owed it to myself to check into the writer’s reasons for proposing such a radical idea.

The issue? E. coli bacteria and its potential for causing illness, paralysis or death. The article summarized a lively debate on a recent “Larry King Live” TV show. King and his guests examined all sides of the subject.

Guest Bill Marler is a foodborne illness expert litigator who stopped eating hamburgers at the time of the 1993 Jack in the Box scare; none of his three daughters has ever eaten a hamburger. Guest Barbara Kowalcyk, director of food safety at the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, lost her two-year-old son, Kevin, to an E. coli infection eight years ago. Her organization does not oppose meat consumption.

But guest Dr. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, does. His research leads him to believe a plant-based diet is the single answer to healthy living. Nutritionist Dr. Nancy Rodriguez, professor, U. of Connecticut squarely opposes Campbell's opinion. She believes that proper handling and cooking keep risks quite low.

Chef Anthony Bourdain also weighed in. Whereas he doesn’t favor eliminating meat; he isn’t in favor of how our meat is raised; meat processing and grinding is, he feels, “unconscionable and border[s] on the criminal.” Further, it’s “off-base” to push for an all-vegetarian diet. After all, we like the smell and the taste of meat. I say, Period. Amen.

They’re the major players in the article that whetted my interest.

Know your source

Is it a given that hamburgers pose an E. coli threat? To learn for myself if it does, last week, my path crossed Nancy Jerominski's, NLJ Fitness & Wellness Consulting owner in SeaTac, WA. (C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach 2, C.H.E.K. Exercise Coach, A.C.E. PFT, I.D.E.A. Master Trainer).

Neither Nancy nor I (or anyone else I know) dismiss the potential dangers of E. coli. However, she says, “We shouldn’t be afraid of eating hamburger. E. coli is present on any meat. If you have a healthy immune system, you won’t be affected. The problem is sick animals and sick meat.”

Hers is a powerful viewpoint, and mindful eaters everywhere are sure to agree. Thanks to Michael Pollan, and others like him, we’re forced to think about where our food comes from. (It’s about time!)

Rod Morrison, President and CEO of Rocky Mountain Organic Meats, advises us to connect on as personal a level as possible with the rancher/farmer who produces our individual meat supply. His herd grazes year-round on omega-3 rich grasses and forage in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming. Their rich diet passes to all who eat RMCC's meat (in the same way that sick cattle pass their unhealthy status onto meat-eaters). For anyone who is unwilling to gamble with meat packages plucked from supermarket coolers; or to buy hamburgers from fast food joints everywhere on the planet, they’ve probably paid attention to that advice, without even knowing him. Like Nancy Jerominski, who knows the farmer raising the meat she eats.

Nancy provides another important reason not to shy away from beef: it supports good brain health because it contains the B-vitamin spectrum, and “that’s one of the things we need for a healthy brain.”

Morrison raises grassfed beef that is certified organic, an advantage that more of us find to be a trustworthy marker when we look for healthy, safe foods. On its website (October 3, 2009), Delicious Living Magazine asked readers, “What label do you look for at the grocery store?” Overwhelmingly, out of 1,060 votes, 62% of the reader-voters said organic.

Should Americans ban hamburgers from their diets? No…and yes. Yes, if it’s meat from feedlot cattle. That meat---from unhealthy breeding grounds---is what is most plentiful and available in stores and restaurants.

No, if the meat comes from a trusted source.