John’s Butcher Shoppee sued for cow hearts in ground beef

John’s Butcher Shoppee Inc. , which has locations in Overland and Festus, allegedly sold ground beef and sausage that illegally contained cow hearts, according to a civil suit filed by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster. The products containing the cow cardiac tissue were intentionally mislabeled, alleges Koster’s suit, which was filed in Hillsboro. The attorney general also asked for a restraining order to keep the shop from selling the products.

Hello everyone, been a while since I made a thread.

It seems that John's Butcher Shoppe has been throwing in Cow hearts into it's ground beef. Thankfully, they are being sued.

Things like this are one of the many reasons that I am a vegetarian. Even when word like this gets out, people still trust their grocery stores and butcher shops. It just appals me. But, along for the personal touch to this thread, I have a story about this particular incident that worked out pretty well for me.

Now, I have an uncle. he doesn't like the idea of vegetarians, and thinks they are ridiculous. I have gotten into plenty of friendly arguments about it, and we have both blabbed on and on for hours about the differences of animals and Humans.

He is a very God oriented individual, while I am more of a free thinker. He would have his case "God gave these animals to us so we could eat them! Not so we can play jump rope with chickens!", and I would go on from my opposing point of view from there. Good ol' times!

But this butcher shop is where he purchases all his meat from. He loves it too. He would talk about certain prices meat, and what good quality they are. He would bring it up when he sees me, just to have a laugh and spite me. I would laugh along too, happy to battle him.

I have yet to see how he reacts to this news, I just posted it on his Facebook wall. We shall see!

so...you can go to the store and buy beef heart...I've had it before, it's a bit tougher than the other meats for sure...but it tastes exactly the same so I don't see the big deal...

My grandfather would eat heart regularly. That and chicken necks, liver, brain. Pretty much any part of a sheep, chicken or cow - except for it's ass.

Methinks people are just having a knee-jerk reaction to having something that is perceived as 'disgusting to eat'.

Originally posted by here4awhile
so...you can go to the store and buy beef heart...I've had it before, it's a bit tougher than the other meats for sure...but it tastes exactly the same so I don't see the big deal...

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Is there something wrong with eating beef heart? Are there side effects from eating it? What is the big deal here?

I hope these people don't ever find out what is in a hot dog!

Not sure what is wrong with beef hearts but I suppose that if I was looking for a beef heart free sausage or hot dog I should get one if it was labeled as such. I have yet to read a good description on what parts are in said hot dog or sausage. Anyway, more socialism at work, need to make sure we have some asshole FDA agent making sure I am safe from the beef heart. Honestly, as a vegetarian I can assume you can appreciate a "whole" product. I would venture to guess that the butcher shop was able to provide a good wholesome product for your uncle and community as opposed to the walmart near by that is going to receive extra business and helping out some big corporate giant like Tyson or Johnsonville.

When will the sacred and holy attorney general save us from liver? I hate liver! And cows brains? Why hasn't the sacred and holy attorney general saved us from this? And tripe? Someone stop the insanity, please!

Wait...I just had some artichoke hearts yesterday. Who do I sue?

I've had beef heart in hamburger patties before and thought it was quite tasty. it was a little cheaper than "regular" hamburger, but still good. Beef is beef. I also fairly regularly buy packs of chicken hearts. Give them an egg bath and coat them with flour and Johnny's Seasoning Salt and fry in butter - they are fantastic. I don't see the big deal here. Especially considering the kind of nasty crap the FDA allows in your canned food.

It would scare you to know the contents of hot dogs.

People what the hell is going on with beef heart? Beef heart have been eaten in other places and wasn't considered as poison

Why does it matter if it tastes the same? Is cow heart somehow more disgusting than cow flesh? You'd think it would make the meat healthier and more lean.

SPAM anyone?

Hot Dogs are ready!

Fried Balogna for lunch?

oooh...Let's not forget McDonalds!

At least Cow heart is actual cow.

This is pretty normal.

I worked in a butcher shop in my teen years and it is normal for heart and liver to be thrown in to ground meat.

I asked one of the butchers about it when I first saw it done and he told me that it improved the flavour.

On the plus side there usually isn't much added to the mince, usually one liver per 20kgs(odd).

It didn't matter if it was a premium grade or regular fatty mince, it went in to both types.

The sausage mince was the same though things like bread were also added.

Organ meats are more nutritious than muscle meat.
Heart is good for the heart, as the cells are specialized and your body recognizes them and uses them accordingly.

reply to post by WillNiendick


Excuse me for being the newbie but I believe that the OP isn't talking about how the meat tastes or what its content is but whether this is about false advertising. Or not.

reply to post by dubois


Then its not false advertising. If the mince was labelled "Beef Mince" how is adding a cow heart to it false advertising? Last time I checked a cows heart is part of a cow that is referred to as 'Beef' when it is prepared for eating.

reply to post by tallcool1


Thanks, I was going to say it if someone else hadn't - still sounds like ground beef to me.

Despite the fact that I prefer a vegetarian lifestyle (but have fallen off the wagon - as I say, not as I do!) for several reasons, it's funny to watch people being unaware of their roots - and I don't think many are aware of how big a role organ meats played in our prior carnivorous histories, and how much better they are in general than muscle is when comes to meat choices.

I could possibly see false advertising come into play here, maybe...but a law suit? Were the items labelled as NOT containing an heart tissue, or ONLY containing muscle tissue? Seems to be much ado about nothing.

Originally posted by enament
It would scare you to know the contents of hot dogs.

YES! haha I wouldn't put it past them containing anything from pig toenails, pig snout, chicken pig and beef rectums, eye lids ears and thatt's the sugar coated version I imagine lol

a heart is just muscle tissue, meat is pretty much the muscle is it not? not too fond of organs myself, but a heart despite being an organ is more meat than organ tissue I think.

WHen I was a kid we ate cow heart, tongue, and (gag) scrambled eggs and calf brain sandwiches. Hrmm... so whats the big deal with adding the heart to mince?? Incredible the things folks will whine about. Gee, lets NOT put every bit of the animal to use I guess so we dont upset anyone... Oh wait, we upset them when we dont use as much as possible of the animals we kill for food. Or do we?! Im so confused now...

Originally posted by OccamAssassin
This is pretty normal.

I worked in a butcher shop in my teen years and it is normal for heart and liver to be thrown in to ground meat.

I asked one of the butchers about it when I first saw it done and he told me that it improved the flavour.

On the plus side there usually isn't much added to the mince, usually one liver per 20kgs(odd).

It didn't matter if it was a premium grade or regular fatty mince, it went in to both types.

The sausage mince was the same though things like bread were also added.

Heck, and here I thought I hated liver. Well, I still do, but if it makes a burger taste better, I'm all for it. I hate pineapples on my pizza too, but love 'em seperately.

reply to post by Kryties


So what you're saying is that beef or pork or any meat is just that -- regardless of what part it is, and that it's only considered deceptive advertising if the label specifically states otherwise, i.e., no fillers, which are then used. If so, then I can understand that. It just seemed to me, initially, that everyone was more concerned with the question of how it tasted or how it was prepared when there was the question of a legal suit [pun intended] involved.