Acceptable Risk

We all know that life comes with risks and none of us are getting out of this alive. However, risks can be roughly categorized into two groups: acceptable, and unacceptable. Of course, these two groups vary with every individual and can overlap depending on the circumstances.

Sometimes, what we considered an “acceptable” risk is suddenly thrown into the unacceptable category. Seat belts are an example. When I was a kid, I didn’t know what a seat belt was. I laid in the back window of the car going down the highway. Somehow, I survived unscathed from this experience. I also played with liquid mercury, rubbing it onto pennies to make them shine. Pretty cool at the time. I’m not sure if I got away with that one or not, depends on who you talk to I guess.

Sometimes, risk sneaks up on us in insidious ways. Take smoking, for example. Some people seem to get away with smoking. Most, do not. Day after day, smokers are exposing their lungs and others around them to the harmful chemicals associated with cigarette smoke.  My Dad and Mom smoked all the time. They both died of smoke-related diseases. My brother and his wife smoked for years. He had an aortic aneurysm and she now has COPD. Unlike my parents, she quit smoking and he has cut way way down, but the damage is already done.

All of this is old news, but people smoke anyway. Why is that? Because quitting would negatively impact their lifestyle, at least in the short term. Quitting smoking is extremely tough for a lot of people. The same thing applies to hamburgers. People are not going to quit eating them just because someone says it’s unhealthy to eat hamburgers. Quitting usually requires a traumatic, life-altering event like a massive heart attack and even then, it may still be tough for some people to give them up.

The Burger Buddy Fat Reducer allows you to clean up your hamburgers and sausages right as they come off the grill. Now why would anyone want to do that? Let me get right to the point here. Any kind of ground meat is hazardous because of the way it is processed at the plant. Any bacteria on steak or other solid meat is quickly killed by grilling because the bacteria is on the surface of the meat and readily exposed to heat. Ground beef is more dangerous than steak because any bacterial contamination on the surface is mixed together with the meat so that it is present within the very center of the patty, requiring the core to be as fully cooked as the surface. Also, this same bacteria accelerates putrefaction in ground meat as it sits in the cooler, generating a variety of toxic compounds, which is another good reason to clean the patty up whether it’s made from regular ground beef, chuck, or sirloin.

How “tough” would it be to clean up your hamburger in The Burger Buddy instead of eating it right off the grill? After all, it does take a little forethought and effort to use it, which is why it works best when used to make bulk microwaveable meals for freezing.

The bottom line is this: If you can lower your risks in life without negatively impacting your lifestyle, why not do it? Have you ever gotten sick from eating E. coli-laden ground beef? Probably not. You probably don’t even know anyone close to you who has. Have you ever gotten sick eating ground beef? If you did, you were lucky it was a milder strain of bacteria. How long will your luck hold out? Is it worth finding out? Do you trust the government to keep your meat safe? Check out the web. There is recall after recall after recall on ground beef. You can find links about a few of them on my other blog under “Health Links”, including a very recent one. The old adage “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” doesn’t apply here. Stay informed.

Let me ask you another question. How tough would it be to have to go to the hospital and see your kid in a coma, swollen and intubated when with just a little effort, you could have prevented it? The Burger Buddy cannot guarantee a piece of meat will be free of live E. coli or any other microbe. There are just too many variables, one in particular is re-infecting the low-fat patty by touching it with a spatula used to handle undercooked meat or with your bare hands after you just handled raw meat.

I will assume your family has managed just fine up to now without The Burger Buddy. If you were to use it, the most likely thing that could happen is the meat tastes better and is more digestible. The worst thing that could happen if you don’t use it is better left unsaid, or is it?

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Is this “Acceptable” Risk?

Processing meat for TV dinners