Window cleaning chemical injected into fast food hamburger meat

If you're in the beef business, what do you do with all the extra cow parts and trimmings that have traditionally been sold off for use in pet food? You scrape them together into a pink mass, inject them with a chemical to kill the e.coli, and sell them to fast food restaurants to make into hamburgers.

That's what's been happening all across the USA with beef sold to McDonald's, Burger King, school lunches and other fast food restaurants, according to a New York Times article. The beef is injected with ammonia, a chemical commonly used in glass cleaning and window cleaning products.

E. Coli, Salmonella Found in Ammonia Treated Beef

The safety practices of Beef Products Inc., a South Dakota meat processor that treats beef trim with ammonia to eliminate E. coli and Salmonella, are being called into question. According to a recent New York Times report, Beef Products’ ammonia treatment method may not work as well against E. coli and Salmonella as the company claims.

Beef Products exposes its meat to ammonia gas, which raises its alkalinity, making it less hospitable to E. coli and Salmonella. According to The New York Times, the process has allowed Beef Products to engineer fattier beef trimmings – more susceptible to contamination – into a leaner product. Prior to the introduction of the ammonia method, such fatty trimmings were usually used to make pet food or cooking

BPI's products are found in the majority of all ground beef produced in the United States. Current production of over 7 million pounds per week, makes BPI the world's largest manufacturer of boneless lean beef in the world. Eating a hamburger from a Quick Service Restaurant or buying ground beef from your local retailer, the chances are you'll be eating product produced by BPI.