brgrblog

Our Farmers Say No Thanks To GM Alfalfa

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:45:00 +0000

Over the past several days there has been an uproar in the organic food world regarding the USDA’s approval of the use of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa. This has been an on-going debate over the past several years both in court and in the blogo-sphere. Organic food activists claim that the unregulated use of GM alfalfa will hinder farmers’ ability to produce organic dairy and meats because of seed contamination among other issues. Monsanto claims that GM alfalfa will increase yields and assist farmers in developing nations who have little or no access to insecticides and herbicides. I have concerns about the unknown effects of GM alfalfa on our herds and human health.

A good thing for all of us at brgr, and everyone who eats our burgers, is that we don’t have to worry about the unknown side effects of GM crops because our cows do not, and will never, eat GM alfalfa. The farmers who work hard every day to get us 100% grass fed beef for our burgers are aware of the issues surrounding GM alfalfa and honestly, they’re far less concerned with this than the throngs of tweeters and bloggers foretelling the end of organic food as we know it. For one thing, they’ve told me that alfalfa doesn’t really need pesticides or herbicides, thus diminishing the comparative advantage of GM alfalfa. Secondly, Monsanto seeds are far more expensive than normal seeds. So why would a farmer pay more for a plant that doesn’t actually require protection from weeds and bugs? Not really sure. But our cows won’t be eating the stuff and right now that’s what matters to me.

Back To Work

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:59:00 +0000

The only way I know of to get over yesterday’s disappointment, is to roll up my sleeves and get back in the kitchen. Every day all of us here strive to make brgr the best company it can be and that means serving the best guilt-free burger on the face of the planet. This week we’re working on creating a new patty for our burger. While our burgers have always been made with fresh, never frozen grass-fed beef and cooked to order. It just is not in my nature to ever be satisfied. “Good enough” is not part of my vocabulary. I want brgr to be the best.

We have a lot of ideas about how we can make a great burger and today we’re going to start trying them out. A tweak to a grinder here, an extra dash of seasonings there, and you really never know what could happen. But since brgr is about pleasing everyone that walks through our doors, I really want to know what you would do to improve our burger. Leave a comment, tweet, hit us up on our facebook wall, or just come in and let us know what you think. Have a great week NY.

J-E-T-S!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:47:00 +0000

This has been a great week at brgr. The Jets thrashing of the Pats on Sunday really got my week off to a good start. All of us at brgr have become rabid Jets fans ever since their head chef started serving the team only 100% grass fed beef. It’s clear that the Jets’ culinary team shares our passion for sourcing the absolute best products on the market as they obtain their grass-fed beef from the same farms we use to create our delicious burgers !

The Jets’ defense clearly benefited from a healthy dose of mind-sharpening Omega-3 fatty acids and lean-muscle building CLA’s when they sought out to ruin Tom Brady’s day. I would say they did a pretty good job. Hey Tom, next time you’re in New York with Gisele, stop by one of our two locations, and we’ll hook you up with a brgr!

The Jets appreciate the nutritional values of grass-fed beef so highly that they have it flown to their away game locations too. Pittsburgh, you’ve been warned.

Our Grass-fed Decade? Century? The Mainstreaming of Grass-fed

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:08:00 +0000

The last decade has been big for grass-fed beef. In 2000, grass-fed was hardly on anyone’s radar, while 2010 kicked off with one of the nation’s most trusted voices—Oprah—sharing the goodness of grass-fed beef with her viewers. Her guest, journalist and food expert Michael Pollan, spoke about the virtues of grass-fed, both for beef and dairy, and we couldn’t help but agree. Yes, we can’t help but notice—and be delighted—that everywhere you turn people are rethinking how they eat and what they eat.

Pollan also brought up some other points that we at brgr think a lot about too, and for which brgr is creating solutions:

Why don’t we know where our food comes from? Modern life is all about ease and convenience, but the downside of that is that we often replace health with haste. Shopping for the right ingredients, taking the time to prepare them properly, those things take a little longer, but the end result is food that’s tastier and healthier. I know that people sometimes feel that they have to wait a little too long for the brgr, but I don’t want to give you a pre-prepared burger. I want you to have a freshly-made, grass-fed beef brgr that tastes delicious and is better for you.
Why is food so cheap? Pollan offers up an interesting statistic: Americans now spend less on our food than “any people who ever lived, than any people anywhere on earth—9.5 percent of our income.” That’s just crazy. Think about how important food is to your life, to your day—it’s pleasure, it’s community, it’s family. Then think about how much those are worth to you. You’d probably say a lot more than 9.5 percent of your income if I asked you, right? While I’m not saying that I want to pay through the nose to have good food, I do think that it’s worth it to pay a little bit more for food that is better for you, so that you can know where your food came from, and so that we all can feel that our choices are better for ourselves, our families, and our environment.
Why do processed, engineered, and shelf-stable products pass for food? I’m not really sure. And neither is Pollan. The fact is that all of those foods that can sit around forever, that have ingredients you can’t pronounce, and are loaded with sugar, bad fats, and sodium really don’t have a place in our diets. Food should be fresh, it should spoil when it’s not. brgr’s commitment to grass-fed beef and dairy is about health, and it’s about knowing where your food comes from. All the beef we serve is fresh, we know where it comes from, and it’s nothing but real, good food.
Is fat really bad for you? Somewhere between the fat-free craze and over-processed fat-filled foods, Americans have gotten the message that all fat is bad while we’ve simultaneously gotten fatter as a nation. What gives? The reality is that a lot of fat-free products are so loaded with sugar and calories that they’re going to make you fat even if they don’t actually contain fat. And the fats in processed foods are bad for you, but that’s because they’re bad fats, not because fat is bad for you. In fact, there are good fats that your body needs for good health and proper functioning that we should all strive to eat. Grass-fed beef and dairy are rich in healthy fat. Sure, that doesn’t mean you should eat them all day every day, but it does mean that they bring value to your diet and health to your life.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what brgr’s New Year’s resolutions will be, and though it would be great to narrow my goals down to some neat bullet points, my sense is that any resolution I have for 2011 won’t look so different from what my goals for brgr have been all along. The fact is I simply want to keep doing better. I want brgr to bring you more excellence and value along with better service, all while advancing our commitment to your health and healthy environment.

"It's not that hard to eat well if you're willing to put a little more time into it, a little more thoughtfulness into it and, yes, a little bit more money," Pollan told Oprah.

We couldn’t agree more. Here’s to hoping that as we head into 2011, grass-fed won’t be the exception, but the rule!

Birthdays, brgr Style

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:40:00 +0000

Those of you who read my earlier blog post know that our grass-fed beef brgrs are nutritious and environmentally friendly to keep kids healthy and happy. Which means that your kids get brgrs, fries, and milkshakes (the things they love), and you get to feel good about what you’re feeding them (the things you love).

It also means that while brgr’s a great place to drop into any time, it’s also a great destination for parties. In particular, the UES brgr (on Third Avenue between 60th and 61st Street) is in the perfect location, with countless things to do and places to go with kids right outside our doors. All that makes it easy to plan for a meal at brgr with your group before or after your city fun.

Some nearby ideas:

This time of year, who can resist the Central Park Wollman Skating Rink? With plenty of space on the rink (as opposed to the rink at Rockefeller Center), you can make plans for even big groups.
Right next to Wollman Rink is the famed Central Park Zoo. What better way to spend a birthday than playing with seals and tropical birds in the middle of the city? With five acres of land, the zoo is an ideal party venue. With brgr is just a short walk away, there’s no need to hunt for options in the park.
I know my kids are thrilled that Dylan’s Candy Bar is nearly across the street from brgr. We’ve spent hours wandering this candy mecca, and the combination of sweets from Dylan’s and brgrs from brgr make for one pretty great birthday. Plus, you can feel good that you’re giving kids healthy brgrs full of omega-3s and Vitamins A and E—that should help offset all that candy! Dylan’s Candy Bar offers party packages—just let them know you‘re planning on lunch at brgr.
Another great option for this time of year is a tour of the city’s holiday windows. Start at Macy’s on 34th and Broadway, make your way up to Lord & Taylor on 39th and 5th. (Fun fact: Lord & Taylor was the first store to have windows decorated with moving scenes for Christmas.) From there, walk up 5th Avenue to see Saks, Barney’s, and Bendel’s. Make a stop at 59th and 5th to see the 32-foot tall Menorah, then head on over to Bloomingdale’s on 59th and Lexington. Before you know it, you’ll be a block away from your destination, and some nice, hot brgrs and fries. Ahh…

Whether brgr’s your destination in its own right or the fuel for your fun, nothing says “Happy Birthday” quite like a brgr, fries, and a milkshake.

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:01:00 +0000

First of all, the important stuff: both brgrs will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, but we’ll be open—and waiting for you to come in and take a load off (and fill up on something other than turkey)—on Friday, and for the rest of the weekend. At Third Avenue (between 60^th and 61^st—right around the corner from Bloomingdale’s) we’re even opening a couple of hours earlier on Black Friday—at 9 am instead of 11 am—to accommodate any shoppers who might need to fuel up before, after or while they hit the sales.

Now for actual Thanksgiving Day… While Thanksgiving might not exactly be a brgr holiday, as we head into Thursday, I confess that I am looking forward to turkey as much as anyone. Sure, that’s partly because brgr is closed that day so I have to look for other options, but it’s also because there are really great turkey choices out there. While there is no such thing as a grass-fed turkey, I have been looking into turkeys raised with the same core values as our grass-fed beef. (Why, you might ask, have I been doing research on this? Well, as you know we have three delicious turkey brgrs on our menu, and I’m currently working on finding a farm that can provide us with the same sustainable product that’s in keeping with the values we bring to all of our grass-fed beef brgrs.) The general rule is to avoid turkey that is raised in confined spaces and fed only a grain diet. Basically, you want a turkey that’s spent it’s life on pasture (and been moved to fresh pasture every day) eating grass, clover, insects, worms, and anything else they come across. This diet has the same effect on turkeys that a natural, grass-fed diet has on cows: it makes their meat tastier and healthier. And, of course, it’s better for the environment.

I know that many of you likely have your turkeys already, but if not—or in planning ahead for next year—there are a few things to look for when shopping for a more responsible turkey: 1) Look for a heritage turkey. These are genetically diverse birds that are of the same species that existed in the past. They’re raised outdoors on a natural diet. 2) Look for organic and/or sustainable choices at your local butcher shop, or 3) Check out your local farmers market. You might be surprised at the local, sustainable choices.

The availability of good options when it comes to turkeys and beef makes me optimistic that we’re beginning to embrace real change in the way we eat, our need to know where our food comes from, and our desire for all of our foods to be grown and raised the way nature intended. Those are brgr’s values, and it makes me happy to see them becoming mainstream rather than exceptional.

Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope to see you on Friday—loaded down with shopping bags and ready for a tasty grass-fed beef brgr.

No Kidding—Why Grass-Fed Is Good for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:32:00 +0000

There are few things that are more important to me than being a good dad. That means getting home in time for games, acting as chauffeur when required, being there to help with homework, counseling through crisis—the list goes on. And as you might expect, I can’t help but have my family—and what’s good for them—in mind when I think about what’s good for brgr.

It was a flurry of articles about problems with traditional meat processing—stories about E. coli, tainted meat, and hamburgers made from things that I certainly wouldn’t want to feed my kids—that got me interested in grass-fed beef. Because while grass-fed is the better choice for everyone, it’s a particularly great choice for kids. Why? 1) I know better than anyone how hard it can be to get your kids to eat things, but most (with the exception of one of my sons) kids are pretty happy to sit down with a burger. So if you can give them a healthier option for food that they’d eat anyway, that’s pretty great. And 2) Kids are one of the most vulnerable groups out there—they’re fragile, they’re susceptible, and the idea of feeding them something that might hurt them is just not okay for me. From farm to table, we at brgr know exactly where our meat comes from, how it was handled, and what’s in it. Eating a hamburger shouldn’t feel like a risk, and I like the idea that our grass-fed brgrs are genuinely good food.

Plus, the basic fact is that there is a lot about grass-fed beef that parents can feel good about:

High levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. These essential building blocks for body chemicals promote cell growth, blood clotting, brain development, and cholesterol and fat metabolism. They are also necessary for a child’s brain and nervous system to properly develop. (A side note: Studies have shown that low levels of Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to attention deficit disorders. Children with low levels were significantly more likely to be hyperactive, have learning disorders, and to display behavioral problems. http://www.mercola.com/beef/adhd.htm)
Lots of beta carotene. Yes, yes, you know this is good for you. That’s why you eat your carrots. But since grass-fed cows eat lots of natural forage that’s rich in beta carotene that gets passed on to our grass-fed beef brgrs. Beta carotene is converted to vitamin A (retinol) by the body, which is necessary for good vision and eye health, and helps build a strong immune system.
Contains the cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Whether you’ve heard of CLA or not, it’s worth knowing that experiments have shown that CLA lowers body fat percentage in children between the ages of 6 and 10. It may also reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers.
Virtually no risk of E. coli. Since kids are especially susceptible to any illness, it’s important to feed them the safest burger possible. While food-borne illnesses can be terrifying, studies show that grass-fed cattle, with their low levels of stomach acid, have dramatically fewer E. coli in their intestines than grain-fed cattle. That means there is virtually no-risk of E. coli in grass-fed meat.

I know these facts aren’t going to thrill your kids (but the thought of a brgr and a milkshake will!), but they are pretty thrilling to a parent. I’m not sure when it became the norm to accept a certain amount of risk when enjoying a simply hamburger, but my feeling is that’s just not the way it should be. I should be able to take my kids to a restaurant where I feel good about what they’re eating. And that is behind everything we do at brgr.

Waiting for Something Better

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:48:00 +0000

I've always fought a tendency to do things too fast. When I was growing up (Is that my kids groaning in the background?), my dad and I would split wood for the fire.

(I know--this would be a great back story for brgr if I had grown up on a ranch, but I didn’t. We lived in the suburbs, my dad worked for PBS in Manhattan, and we were the first on the block to have a Betamax video recorder. Because that was the technology of the future!)

So back to the wood splitting... (Or at least our version of it--I have no doubt real wood splitting rancher guys would have had a good laugh at our expense, but for my dad and me it was a ritual.) I had the tendency to go in fast and furious, and my dad was always telling me to slow it down when swinging the mallet. To this day, I am thankful for his parental control--it explains why I still have two feet. But he also let me make my own mistakes. He never stopped me from overloading my arms with split wood on the way to the pile behind the garage.

That’s a lazy man’s load, he’d say.

What?? Look how efficient I’m being!!!

Until I dropped a few pieces, or all of it and had to come back and do it again. Better to have slowed down and taken the time to do it right.

It takes time to do things right...

Today, I often find myself making the same kinds of decisions--and thinking about my dad. The reality is that I’m a busy guy. I have kids, I have a demanding job, there is a lot going on in my life at all times. Which means that for the most part I’m pretty impatient. I like to find quick solutions, efficiencies, and I’m always aware when I--or someone or something else--has wasted my time. Do I wish life wasn’t that way? Of course. But then there’s reality.

All that said, working at brgr has ever-so-slightly shifted my steadfast resolve for all things to be as quick as possible. (And forced me to realize that my dad was on to something.) I definitely used to be the guy who wanted his burger now--why would I wait for something that I could get anywhere and served in just a minute or two? But then I became the guy who learned that there’s actually a big difference in burgers--and, more specifically, the meat in them--and my thinking definitely began to shift. Yes, burgers are common and they can be a fast food, but a really great burger is an entirely different animal. Above all, a great burger is rooted in outstanding meat, and great meat isn’t just something you slap on the grill, cook up in massive quantities, and then let languish under a heat lamp so that people can have that commodity burger they’ve come to expect.

Nope, a great burger is a little slower from the beginning. Take the meat. Delicious and healthy ground beef doesn’t come from cows that have been rushed through growth with some combination of force/fattening-feeding and growth hormones. It comes from cows that have had the leisure to come of age on their own, grazing in nature. The same is true for cooking that meat. Because grass-fed beef is leaner, it has to be cooked at a lower temperature for a longer--getting the beef to its optimal state rather than throwing it over the hottest flame and rushing it along.

So, here I am today, the guy who’s always rushing, with a newfound appreciation for taking things a little slower. Kind of makes you rethink the value of time, doesn’t it?

The Solar-Powered Cow

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:24:00 +0000

Here’s something I read recently that seems counterintuitive at first, but kind of makes sense once you think about it: many people who own Priuses also own SUVs. Not exactly what you'd expect, but the fact is that many Americans like the idea of doing good—but aren't crazy about giving up the luxuries they've come to love. Like a nice, juicy burger.

That was certainly the logic that got me interested in grass-fed beef. I still wanted to be able to offer people a great brgr, and I figured there had to be a middle ground: something between veganism and a carbon footprint bigger than Texas. I looked at other beef options, but everything I read about grass-fed kept resonating with me.

In past posts, I’ve emphasized the health benefits of grass-fed, but one of the other really appealing things to me about grass-fed is its environmental impact. Compared to feedlot, grain and corn-raised cattle, the techniques for raising grass-fed animals have a significantly lower carbon footprint. At the core, grass-fed’s sustainable farming techniques work on a really basic principle: they’re converting solar energy into protein energy, and cutting out a lot of those wasteful, polluting practices that are the byproduct of big agribusiness farming.

A few reasons why grass-fed beef is better the environment:

Sustainable. brgr’s grass-fed farmers rest their land between grazings to increase the density of existing plants in their pastures and allow for the re-introduction of new native plants. As a result, their grassland is deeply rooted, and this better root structure and thicker sod enables the landscape to catch and hold nearly all of the rain that hits it, resulting in virtually no soil erosion or flooding. This sustainable eco-system is a natural carbon recycler: the carbon our animals produce is reused by our plant life for further growth. Furthermore, brgr’s farmers have maintained organic principles since 2000, though they have not sought official organic certification in their home state of Missouri. (This is a question we get a lot, and the short answer is: yes in practice; no in certification.)
No pollution. Holistic land practices ensure that grass-fed animals fertilize their own food. A healthy cycle of land management means no manure run-off or toxic lakes of waste. Nope, it all goes right back into the earth to create the rich soil that helps grass and other pasture-land plants grow lush and healthy. Basically, think of it this way, the sun is the energy source behind every grass-fed cow.
Limited petroleum-product use. brgr gets its grass-fed beef directly from a Missouri farm cooperative that raises all of its animals on lush local grasses that grow with seasons. There’s no need for petroleum-based fertilizers—the farms just work with the natural environment. Contrast that with most cattle operations that rely on corn and soy products to feed their animals: corn and soy are produced on industrial farms that rely heavily on petroleum-based fertilizers to producer their crops. Plus, brgr buys directly from farmers, thus avoiding excess shipping and packaging. In truth, the vegetables you buy at the grocery store often use more energy than one of our grass-fed beef brgrs.
Healthier animals. You know how fresh air and nature is often the best medicine for people? Well, the same is true for animals. When animals can wander freely and get exercise throughout the day (rather than being cooped up on a feedlot), they’re just healthier. And since they’re not weak or sick, grass-fed cows don’t need those harmful additives and antibiotics that affect quality of life and the environment for all of us.

I really do like to think of our brgrs as having been created by solar-powered cows. Yes, like most solar technologies, they require a little help from more traditional energy sources, but you don’t have to look hard to see that grass-fed practices are vastly more environmentally sustainable than their mainstream counterparts.

And that makes me want a brgr!

Do you really know what grass-fed is? Really??

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:55:00 +0000

Yes, I talk about grass-fed beef a lot. So much so that you might be thinking, enough already, Steve, I get it! And sometimes I take a step back and think to myself, “Am I becoming the boring guy always spouting on about grass fed beef? By now, everyone gets grass-fed. They get the difference, they know why it’s good for them, they understand that it really is something apart from the usual.”

And then reality smacks me in the face.

You wouldn’t believe how often I hear from my friends—even really close friends, friends who’ve sat on my back porch and shared a beer—or two—with me, friends I’ve known for years, friends who’ve been near and dear since the day I launched brgr—about brgr’s newest “competitor.”

“Steve,” they say, “I was in [insert town name], and I came across this place that’s doing the same thing that brgr is. They’re serving [all-natural/pasture-raised/vegetarian-only diet] beef burgers.”

(Silent scream.)

I love my friends, but that hurts! After all this time, and all my talk, do they really think all-natural, pasture-raised, or vegetarian-only diet means the same thing as grass-fed?!

Here’s the truth about grass-fed beef:

Grass-fed beef comes from animals that have spent their entire lives eating the leafy, grassy goodness of a lush, green pasture. And even in the dead of winter, when their pastures are bare, they eat grass and forage that has been specially dried for them. Grass-fed beef is serious business, and grass-fed farmers ensure that their cattle never eat anything other than what nature intended. Only with this pure diet throughout its entire life can an animal produce meat that has the benefits of true grass-fed: high levels of omega-3s, vitamins A and E, proven cancer fighter CLA, and be lower in fat and calories. The grass-fed cow really is something exceptional.

By contrast, all of those others fancy sounding terms are just eco- and health-friendly jargon designed to tap into what marketers think people want to hear—without giving them any of the benefits of the grass-fed real deal.

And the truth about all those other terms:

All-Natural: A throw-away term. Corn is natural, so are antibiotics, and even some growth hormones. “All-natural” beef is just as likely to come from a feedlot as anywhere else, and you can be sure it won’t have any of the benefits of grass-fed.

Pasture-raised: Another evasive term that hints at grass-fed without delivering any of its benefits. Animals might be allowed to graze in pastures, but this doesn’t mean their diets aren’t supplemented with corn, grain and other additives.

Grain-finished: Often a complement to pasture-raised, grain-finished animals are those that spent part of their lives grazing freely, but spent the last months of their lives being finished—or fattened—on a grain diet. Grain-finishing may make for a heavier animal, but it also negates all the positive effects of any grass-fed diet. A lifetime of grass-fed nutrition and health can be undone by just a few weeks of a corn or grain diet.

Vegetarian-Only Diet: This sounds fancy, but let’s face it: corn, grains, and all those other not-good-for-cattle foods are all vegetarian. Just because vegetarianism might be something we associate with good health in humans (though I would beg to differ) doesn’t mean that this term has any relevance for cattle.

So there you have it… Don’t be fooled. Unless you’re eating grass-fed, you’re not eating grass-fed!

Brgr’s Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Those of you who step into the Third Avenue brgr this week might notice a little something new on the menu. This may just be the preliminary testing phase, but I’m pretty excited about it. I’d love to hear your feedback. feedback@brgr.com

What’s the big addition?

The new 100% grass-fed beef hot dog.

Yes, yes, I know. But Steve, I can hear some of you saying, you’re brgr! How can you serve hot dogs?!

Truth be told the whole thing came about kind of unexpectedly. I never planned on serving hot dogs, but then a little something called life came along. Life in the form of my kids.

As many of you know from following me on Twitter and from reading this blog, I am father to four children. They are wonderful, most of the time, except for maybe in the moment when you discover that one of your own kids, child of you—the CEO of restaurants that only serve burgers—doesn’t like burgers. At all. Ever. Nothing about beef, mind you, just ground beef, cooked in the shape of a hamburger. (Chunky meat sauce seems to go over okay, and he loves when I grill him a steak. Go figure.)

Once I got over my initial dismay, I did what any sensible father would do: I looked for solutions. And found inspiration close to home, in the form of my world (as in my back yard world)-famous and much-loved cheese dog. For years, I’ve been grilling up the perfect cheese-covered hot dog, and I realized that a grass-fed beef hot dog would satisfy my son and, more importantly, adhere to brgr’s commitment to serving only healthy, sustainable grass-fed beef. All of which explains how we came to have a nitrate-free, sugar-free, and low-sodium 100% grass-fed beef hot dog.

So, it turns out that in my quest to please one person in my life, I think I stumbled on something that’s going to please a lot of people. Our new brgr hot dog is grass-fed and it tastes delicious. And just to make sure you don’t forget where you are, we sandwich it in a burger bun.

I hope you’ll come in and try brgr’s hot dog, whether plain or in our Shade Tree hot dog, which is served with American cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and pickles. (Just the way I make our cheese dogs at home…)

Let me know what you think!

The Perfect Fall Field Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:51:00 +0000

As I pointed out last week, and as you no doubt have noticed, it is, indeed, fall in New York City. In my family, fall is back-to-school time, so we don’t end up with time for much beyond rushing to and from activities, homework, and the occasional hectic family dinner. But every once in a while we find ourselves with time. Yup, just time. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, that time falls on a Saturday or Sunday.

We have found that one of the nicest outings on a sunny fall weekend is a drive up the Hudson. Less than a hundred miles outside of New York City the pace slows down, the cars are fewer, the forests are denser, and there are any number of fully functioning farms, many of which you can visit. One of them—Ronnybrook Farm Dairy—just happens to be the supplier of the delicious dairy products we use in our delicious milkshakes (not that we’re biased).

Ronnybrook Farm Dairy is based in Ancramdale, a little town just about 10 miles east of Rhinebeck (if you hadn’t heard of it before, Rhinebeck no doubt found its way on to your radar this summer when Chelsea Clinton had her wedding there). For more than 50 years, the Osofsky family of Ronnybrook Farm Dairy has been raising their prize-winning Holsteins on the rich, grass-filled landscape of New York State.

Unfortunately, Ronnybrook Farm Dairy isn’t open to the public, but you can get a feel for the area, and there are plenty of other fun activities to keep every member of the family entertained. I’ve found this Hudson Valley guide from Travel + Leisure to be particularly helpful when planning a day trip.

And since you’ll all no doubt be too tired to even think about cooking anything at home by the time you make it back to the city, you can always swing by brgr for a final taste of the country (with grass-fed beef brgrs and Ronnybrook Dairy milkshakes, of course!) before it’s heads down, back to city life and the glow of your magical fall weekend day fades away.

Grass-fed for the Long Run

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:57:00 +0000

It's fall in New York City, and that means one thing... Well, actually, it means lots of things, but if you’re a long distance runner, fall is dominated by a certain 26.2-mile road race: the New York City marathon. With the cruel heat of summer now a thing of the past, runners are making the final push in their training, paying close attention to their diets, getting in their grueling, endurance-building long runs, and also holding down regular maintenance with regular shorter runs.

From the Third Avenue brgr, we see these intrepid runners pass by all the time on their way to the Park. They’re not hard to spot with their comfortable paces, the cleverly-rigged water-delivery systems, their little packs of energy-giving goo, and, by the time they’ve finished, by their utter exhaustion. The fact is that running takes a serious toll on the body, and while most runners I know are more than happy to take advantage of their extra burned (earned?) calories for a little indulgence, they’re also more aware than most of the importance of what they put in their bodies. In a nutshell, athletes, more than most, really understand that food isn’t just about pleasure or hunger or whatever, it’s actually fuel.

As it happens, grass-fed beef is pretty great fuel for the working body. Olympic and NYC marathoner Deena Kastor is one example of a tried-and-true fan of grass-fed beef—she’s been eating it for years to fuel her intense running regimen—and there are plenty of other greats who know its value too. I have yet to meet an endurance athlete who doesn’t eat meat in some form—quite simply, the human body needs it for nutrients, for replenishment, for energy stores, and more. And no one is more conscious about eating the good stuff than athletes, which is why they opt for grass-fed over grain-fed.

What’s in grass-fed beef that makes it so great for athletes?

• Protein.
• Omega 3s.
• Branch-chain amino acids.
• Vitamins A and E.
• Digestive enzymes.
• Lower in calories and fat than grain-fed beef.

So all you runners out there, have your brgr and eat it too. Enjoy a juicy, tasty brgr, and get all the good things that your hard-working body needs, and while you're at it, splurge on a milkshake, too. You’ve earned it!

Celebrating the Launch of the New Third Avenue brgr

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Photo Credit: Kelly Samardak

Reporters are a hungry and thirsty bunch, and we’re glad they are. On Wednesday night, we officially celebrated the launch of our new Third Avenue brgr with a special party for reporters and bloggers with a spread of our delicious grass-fed beef brgrs, Ronnybrook Farm Dairy milkshakes, You&Me Cookies, and our various other offerings. (In case you didn’t know, brgr also serves wine and beer, so we thought it made sense to offer our guests a taste of those too.)

To get the evening off on the right foot, we rolled out the green carpet, and I met guests as they came in the door. We welcomed food reporters, food bloggers, burger aficionados, parenting reporters, and even the Mayor (on Foursquare) of the Third Avenue restaurant.

The Third Avenue staff passed our most popular brgrs—The Beautiful Day Brgr, The Rainforest Brgr, and The Blue Sky Brgr—and guests ordered brgrs of their choice at the grill. We also offered tasting flights of our signature milkshakes (they come in four flavors: blueberry-pomegranate, black and white, strawberry, and vanilla), and our russet potato fries, sweet potato fries, and onion hay.

Once everyone had had a chance to sample the food, I introduced myself, and (as you might expect!) talked about the core values of our brgr restaurants: high-quality grass-fed beef; fresh, made-for-you brgrs; and a different kind of brgr experience. Alongside me were John Wood of U.S. Wellness Meats and Ronny Osofsky of Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, both of whom know the value and excellence of their products (grass-fed beef and local, free-range cows), and were happy to extol the virtues to the audience.

That's me. Getting excited about brgr.

The response so far has been great—the brgrs were a hit, everyone learned about grass-fed beef, and the Third Avenue brgr is on its way to becoming an Upper East Side institution!

From Farm to City

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:15:00 +0000

Building a restaurant on grass-fed beef might seem straight forward to the uninitiated, but the fact is most grass-fed beef farmers run small operations and lack the capacity to supply our two brgr restaurants. So I was more than a little happy when I met a man who could. John Wood, founder and head farmer of grass-fed meat company U.S. Wellness Meats, not only shares brgr’s views on the superiority of grass-fed beef, but he was able to help us come up with the perfect grass-fed blend for the perfect grass-fed brgr.

John is a lifelong farmer. His family has been farming in Missouri for five generations, and the man is passionate about his grass-fed beef. But despite his “all grass-fed, all the time” attitude today, John was surprised as anyone when the first cattle he raised with traditional grass-fed practices turned out to be lean and tasty, tender and full of nutrients. Now that he’s gone grass, though, he’ll never go back.

Spend just a few minutes with him, and you’ll be thinking a lot differently about the food you eat. He’ll tell you that grain-fed, feedlot cattle aren’t even in the same ballpark as their grass-fed counterparts when it comes to their omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, levels, and that it can be almost impossible to trace the origins of the average hamburger, which can contain meat from hundreds of different animals. (Not like the brgr crew needed additional convincing to go grass-fed, but he makes a good argument.)

We’re proud that U.S. Wellness Meats—with the healthy, traditional grass-feeding practices that the company was founded on—works directly with brgr to make every great brgr hamburger. We know that it’s not enough for a burger to be as healthy as possible. No, every grass-fed beef brgr needs to be delicious. Your brgr may be healthy, humanely raised, and be traceable back to its origins (just ask, John will tell you), but we really just want you to have an outstanding burger when you’re craving one.

Fresh grass-fed beef and a burger made just for you while you wait. Seriously, if you haven’t yet, come in and see what all the fuss is about. And if you drop by our Upper East Side brgr this coming Wednesday the 22nd at 6 pm, you can talk to John—and me—in person. We’re believers in the grass-fed difference, and we’re more than happy to tell you what all the fuss is about!

Hey, New York! You deserve better...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:53:00 +0000

Some of you may have caught an article in Wednesday’s NY Post (based on Consumer Reports' findings). The subject? Fast-food-chain burgers, and Americans’ picks and pans. As you might imagine, say the word “burger,” and we pay attention.

While a brgr burger isn’t exactly fast food, and brgr isn’t exactly a chain (well, we do have two restaurants), we couldn’t help but pay attention to the quality of the burger choices out there. People, it is bleak.

If you’re on the West Coast, you can go for an In-N-Out burger. And in all fairness to the competition, they make a tasty burger. Sure, it’s not grass-fed, but if you want a great traditional burger, they’ve got you covered. In our area (or at least in New Jersey), the only high scorer—again for a standard beef burger—was Fuddruckers. Their burger is fine, and, of course, you have to give them credit for a name like Fuddruckers.

Otherwise, when it comes to the fast-food burger, New Yorkers are pretty much out of luck. Our major players (McDonalds, White Castle, Burger King) were mostly slammed when it comes to taste, quality, and all of those other things that most people think are pretty important in their food.

Which brings us to the real question… With so many great burger places in this city, why is anyone still eating mediocre offerings from chain outlets? Why would you settle for processed, low-quality meat; burgers that have been sitting under heat lamps; or a ready-made burger experience based on someone else’s burger ideal. Really, there should be some sort of Burger-Lovers Bill of Rights that guarantees you’ll never have another less-than-stellar burger again.

We’re doing our best to make you the tastiest, healthiest burger, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we stack up—and on what should go in that Burger-Lovers Bill of Rights. Obviously, I’d like to see grass-fed beef become the norm, but you might have some different priorities. Send me an email at steve@brgr.com.

A Brief History of Meat

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:54:00 +0000

As brief as we can make it. We swear…

For a big chunk of human history (in other words for a very, VERY long time), there was only way to raise animals: Cattle spent their lives foraging on the local grasses, plants and shrubs that were a part of their surroundings. Free to roam lush, grassy pastures, these animals were robust and healthy, and the resulting meat was lean, nutritious, and rich in flavor.

But then very quickly—and very recently—that long, unbroken history of farming practices was turned on its head. Because newer is always better, right?! (Sort of like Wonderbread was better than fresh-baked bread, and margarine than butter. Hmm… )

Here’s what happened: After World War II, big business figured out that with a few little (or not so little) tweaks in the way things worked, farming could be a serious moneymaker. And so the best practices that farmers had developed for thousands of years began to be replaced.

By the 1960s, American meat was no longer coming from family farms; instead, it was produced in massive feedlot operations that emphasized efficiency and quantity over quality. The largest of these operations could crank out more than 100,000 head of cattle a year, all fattened rapidly and unnaturally on the seemingly endless supply of corn, wheat and soybeans that were being churned out thanks to government subsidies and petroleum-based fertilizers.

But while we’ve come back around to the idea that fresh bread and fresh butter might be a whole lot better than the processed alternative, the pendulum has only started to swing on beef. So, today, animals, many of which have never seen a single blade of grass after they are weaned, are still fattened on these unnatural diets in cramped feedlots.

And because cattle aren’t eating the diet nature intended (we’ll save all the gory details on what a grain-based diet does to animal health and why the same diet is the direct cause of many of the scary meat recalls we’ve been seeing recently for a later post) or getting the fresh air and exercise they need to be healthy, they’re bolstered by hormones and antibiotics. Within little over a year, animals have been artificially bulked up. This efficient industrial process guarantees that there will always be plenty of cheap meat in the grocery store and that your fast-food burger will be less expensive than a bag of carrots. Which, really, doesn’t seem right, does it?

But just because you’re not paying a premium for beef in the short term, don’t think that you’re really saving anything. Most beef simply isn’t good for you—it’s loaded with hormones and antibiotics, it’s high in saturated fat, and it’s linked to life-threatened diseases.

So here’s the real truth: grass-fed beef is different. Yes, it costs a little more, but that’s because animals are raised right—the old-fashioned way—on grassland. They grow not with the help of hormones but with the help of grass and sun on nature’s timeline. And because cattle eat the healthy diet nature intended, grass-fed beef is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy fat found in salmon, in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a proven cancer fighter, as well as vitamins A and E, branch-chain amino acids, digestive enzymes and essential nutrients that are known for their antioxidant properties.

So, yeah, go ahead. Have a brgr. And don’t feel one bit guilty about it.

What’s ground, round and doesn’t rot?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:08:00 +0000

Most of the fast food that’s out there is kind of irrelevant to us here at brgr. True, we’re all serving burgers, but that’s about as close as the connection comes. (Oh, wait, we have fountain soda too...) Why? Because we don’t believe in "fast" food as we’ve all come to know it. We prefer to think of it as fast slow food--basically high-quality meals, made-to-order with a relatively short wait time.

You don’t have to go through the whole sit-down-and-order-from-a-waiter thing at brgr, but we still make your meal for you. No burger heat lamps here; we use the freshest grass-fed beef—and freshest other ingredients—and put them all together after you place your order. Fancy that! You may have to wait a bit, but we think that fresh is worth waiting for.

Don’t want to wait for fresh? A word on the alternative…

We were amused/disturbed to come across a series of photographs from artist Sally Davies, in which she tackles the project of photographing a certain fast food chain’s burger and fries every day, indefinitely, to see what happens to them. (We hear that Morgan Spurlock pulled the same experiment, off camera, in his research for Supersize Me.) Turns out nothing much happens. In fact, last we heard, one of those hamburgers (from 1996) is still floating around out there, unchanged. Which really isn’t normal. Fresh food spoils. It’s supposed to spoil. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have “fresh” food. It would just be "food." (Quotes intended.)

Umm...yeah...do we really have to say that?

Health Benefits of Pasture-Based and Grass fed Farming

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:43:00 +0000

http://www.animalwelfareapproved.org/consumers/health-benefits/

Grassfed Beef

Consumers’ concern about the safety of their meat has risen as multiple beef recalls have made the news in recent months. However, the latest recalls making headlines are nothing new; between Jan. 1, 1994 and Nov. 31, 2007, roughly 800 separate company recalls took place – equivalent to over 300 million lbs. of meat and poultry products. Nearly all were caused by two types of bacteria: Listeria and E. coli.

At the heart of the problem is the standard industry practice of raising and processing animals at the fastest rate and the lowest cost. With over 80 percent of meat in the United States coming from mass production units, consumer fears may be justified. Fortunately, an alternative exists. Studies show that meat from grassfed cattle, such as those raised by Animal Welfare Approved farmers, is less likely to harbor dangerous bacteria.

A 2001* study comparing calves finished in feedlots with calves that stayed out on grass showed that grassfed animals had less E. coli overall, and the E. coli that did show up was a different strand that was much less likely to infect humans. None of the grassfed calves had the potentially lethal O157:h7 strain, whereas all of the grainfed calves had this type of E. coli.

Another study** conducted in 2003 found that, among loads of feedlot and grassfed cattle, 58 percent of the former group carried the campylobacter bacteria. Only 2 percent of cattle raised on pasture had these bacteria, which can cause symptoms including fever, upset stomach, headache and muscle pain.The Animal Welfare Approved husbandry standards require that all beef cattle are raised humanely on pasture, ensuring that they are able to live naturally in a habitat that suits them, and that their meat is a safer choice for consumers.

Eatwild is great resource for identifying local safe, healthy and sustainable meat, poultry and dairy products. Also be sure to visit the American Grassfed Association’s website for more information on the benefits of grass-fed livestock.
* Russell, J.B., F. Diez-Gonzalez, and G.N. Jarvis, “Potential Effect on Cattle Diets and the Transmission of Pathogenic Escherichia Coli to Humans” Microbes Infect 2, no, 1 (2000) 45-53.
**Bailey, G.D., B.A. Vantelow et al. (2003) “A study of the food borne pathogens Campylobacter, Listeria and Yersinia, in faeces from slaughter-age cattle and sheep in Australia.” Commun Dis Intell 2003; 27(2): 249-57.

Midtown Lunch Sniffs Out Our New Midtown East Location

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:07:00 +0000

See our new location at 61st and 3rd reviewed in Midtown Lunch

http://midtownlunch.com/2010/06/03/your-first-look-at-the-new-midtown-brgr/

Your First Look at the New Midtown BRGR

In the forums yesterday there was news about a new BRGR opening at the edges of the ML border, by 61st and 3rd ave. (We can’t be everywhere, and always appreciate it when you guys let us know about stuff like this.) I stopped by to check out the scene and see what’s on the menu. They tout grass-fed beef burgers from $7.55 to $10 with all sorts of fillings. They all seem to come with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and pickles though. Fries are $2.50, sweet potato fries are $3.50, and the shakes are $5.50. You can see their full menu on their website, and a shot of the interior is after the jump.

The original location (on 7th Ave. btw. 26+27th) is a go-to lunch for the folks at A Hamburger Today… Anybody been to that location yet, or this new one? Let us know how it is in the comments.

New Location Review

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:15:00 +0000

The word is out on our new location at 61st and 3rd. Come on by this weekend!

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1902384

Just waiting for the burger at Brgr on the Upper East Side.

If your body is in need of certain protein strains or you're just plain craving a burger, Brgr is the place to go. Known for their grass-fed burgers, its new location (which just opened this past Saturday and is dangerously close to my apartment) is right near Bloomingdale's, making it the perfect pitstop to fuel up before you shop. Grass-fed beef is not only better for you, but also better for the environment. Beef from grass-fed cows is more nutrient-rich and contains higher level of Omega 3 fatty acids with less of the unhealthy fats. Also, it takes half as many fossil fuels to produce grass-fed beef as grain-fed.

As for the toppings, Brgr has all the cheeses you could want, bacon, avocado, onion marmalade, and grilled mushrooms. From the frier comes sweet potato fries and the french kind, as well as crispy thin fried onions, known as onion hay. If you can’t make up your mind, just order the trio.

In between Invite Health and Isle of Capri.

Clockwise from above: Brgr hours; Clearly stated: grass fed is the better beef; even the floor resembles grass!

For the non-red meat eater, Brgr's veggie and turkey burgers are much better than they need to be. Or you can just opt for dessert: a black and white milkshake made to order with local Ronnybrook Dairy products. Or their blueberry pomegranate shake, which is always ranked among the top shakes in New York.

Brgr
1026 Third Avenue (on corner of 61st Street)
Brgr has another location in Chelsea

Brgr Operations manager Martin Weil (center) with members of the Brgr crew.

Black and white milkshake.

Blueberry pomegranate shake.

Burger toppings, all fresh and delicious.

Grass fed beef burger with american cheese, pickles, lettuce and tomato.

Veggie burger with herb mayo and avocado.

Brand new and completely stocked with soda and condiments.

The place for french fries.

The trio: french fries, sweet potato fries, and onion hay.

New Studies show the benefits of grass-fed beef

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:33:00 +0000

Switching to Grass-Fed Beef

By TARA PARKER-POPE

What’s the nutritional difference between beef from animals raised on grass compared with animals fattened in feedlots?

New research from California State University in Chico breaks it down, reviewing three decades of research comparing the nutritional profiles of grass-fed and grain-fed beef.

Over all, grass-fed beef comes out ahead, according to the report in the latest Nutrition Journal. Beef from grass-fed animals has lower levels of unhealthy fats and higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which are better for cardiovascular health. Grass-fed beef also has lower levels of dietary cholesterol and offers more vitamins A and E as well as antioxidants. The study found that meat from animals raised entirely on grass also had about twice the levels of conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, isomers, which may have cancer fighting properties and lower the risk of diabetes and other health problems.

While the analysis is favorable to grass-fed beef, it’s not clear whether the nutritional differences in the two types of meat have any meaningful impact on human health. For instance, the levels of healthful omega-3s are still far lower than those found in fatty fish like salmon. And as the study authors note, consumers of grain-fed beef can increase their levels of healthful CLAs by eating slightly fattier cuts.
Grass-fed beef has a distinctly different and “grassy” flavor compared with feed-lot beef and also costs more. A recent comparison in The Village Voice cooked up one-pound grass-fed and grain-fed steaks. The grass-fed meat tasted better, according to the article, but at $26 a pound, also cost about three times more.

Today all cattle are typically raised on grass in the early months of their lives. But in the 1950s, cattle raisers hoping to cut costs and improve efficiency of beef production began to ship the animals to feed lots, where they could be fattened more quickly on inexpensive and high-calorie grains. Grain feeding also increased intramuscular fat in the animals. The result was a marbling effect that made meat more flavorful and tender but also raised fat and cholesterol levels.
Advocates of pasture-raised beef say the reasons to switch go beyond nutrition. The animal is raised in a more humane fashion that is also better for the environment. And 100-percent grass-fed animals typically aren’t given hormones or antibiotics. The Web site EatWild.com has more information about the environmental effects of commercial farming and ranching practices and the benefits of pasture-raising.

The New York Times writer Marian Burros explored the taste difference in “There’s More to Like About Grass-Fed Beef.”

Labels on grass-fed beef can be misleading, and some meat carrying a “grass-fed” label was still “finished” on grains at a feed lot. Meats carrying a U.S. Department of Agriculture “process verified shield” adhere to specific standards for grass feeding, although Mother Earth News reports that a label from the American Grassfed Association is better. To learn more about labeling on grass-fed meat read the full Mother Earth article, “The Label Says Grass-Fed, But Is It?” or go to the American Grassfed Association Web site.

Grain Fed Beef Industry Gets it Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:47:00 +0000

By MICHAEL MOSS
Published in New York Times: December 30, 2009
Eight years ago, federal officials were struggling to remove potentially deadly E. coli from hamburgers when an entrepreneurial company from South Dakota came up with a novel idea: injecting beef with ammonia.
The company, Beef Products Inc., had been looking to expand into the hamburger business with a product made from beef that included fatty trimmings the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil. The trimmings were particularly susceptible to contamination, but a study commissioned by the company showed that the ammonia process would kill E. coli as well as salmonella. Officials at the United States Department of Agriculture endorsed the company’s ammonia treatment, and have said it destroys E. coli “to an undetectable level.” They decided it was so effective that in 2007, when the department began routine testing of meat used in hamburger sold to the general public, they exempted Beef Products.

With the U.S.D.A.’s stamp of approval, the company’s processed beef has become a mainstay in America’s hamburgers. McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food giants use it as a component in ground beef, as do grocery chains. The federal school lunch program used an estimated 5.5 million pounds of the processed beef last year alone.
But government and industry records obtained by The New York Times show that in testing for the school lunch program, E. coli and salmonella pathogens have been found dozens of times in Beef Products meat, challenging claims by the company and the U.S.D.A. about the effectiveness of the treatment. Since 2005, E. coli has been found 3 times and salmonella 48 times, including back-to-back incidents in August in which two 27,000-pound batches were found to be contaminated. The meat was caught before reaching lunch-rooms trays.
In July, school lunch officials temporarily banned their hamburger makers from using meat from a Beef Products facility in Kansas because of salmonella — the third suspension in three years, records show. Yet the facility remained approved by the U.S.D.A. for other customers.
Presented by The Times with the school lunch test results, top department officials said they were not aware of what their colleagues in the lunch program had been finding for years.
In response, the agriculture department said it was revoking Beef Products’ exemption from routine testing and conducting a review of the company’s operations and research. The department said it was also reversing its policy for handling Beef Products during pathogen outbreaks. Since it was seen as pathogen-free, the processed beef was excluded from recalls, even when it was an ingredient in hamburgers found to be contaminated.
The Beef Products case reveals a schism between the main Department of Agriculture and its division that oversees the school lunch program, a divide that underscores the government’s faltering effort to make hamburger safe. The U.S.D.A. banned the sale of meat found to be contaminated with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli 15 years ago, after a deadly outbreak was traced to Jack in the Box restaurants. Meat tainted with salmonella is also a hazard. But while the school lunch program will not buy meat contaminated with salmonella, the agriculture department does not ban its sale to the general public.
Even so, E. coli outbreaks nationwide have increased in recent years. And this summer, two outbreaks of particularly virulent strains of salmonella in hamburger prompted large recalls of ground beef across several states.
Although no outbreak has been tied to Beef Products, officials said they would thoroughly scrutinize any future industry innovations for fighting contamination “to ensure that they are scientifically sound and protect public health,” and that they were examining the government’s overall meat safety policies.
The founder and owner of Beef Products, Eldon N. Roth, declined requests for interviews or access to the company’s production facilities. Responding to written questions, Beef Products said it had a deep commitment to hamburger safety and was continually refining its operation to provide the safest product possible. “B.P.I.’s track record demonstrates the progress B.P.I. has made compared to the industry norm,” the company said. “Like any responsible member of the meat industry, we are not perfect.”
Beef Products maintains that its ammonia process remains effective. It said it tests samples of each batch it ships to customers and has found E. coli in only 0.06 percent of the samples this year.
The company says its processed beef, a mashlike substance frozen into blocks or chips, is used in a majority of the hamburger sold nationwide. But it has remained little known outside industry and government circles. Federal officials agreed to the company’s request that the ammonia be classified as a “processing agent” and not an ingredient that would be listed on labels.
Within the U.S.D.A., the treated beef has been a source of friction for years. The department accepted the company’s own study as evidence that the treatment was effective. School lunch officials, who had some doubts about its effectiveness, required that Beef Products meat be tested, as they do all beef used by the program.
School lunch officials said that in some years Beef Products testing results were worse than many of the program’s two dozen other suppliers, which use traditional meat processing methods. From 2005 to 2009, Beef Products had a rate of 36 positive results for salmonella per 1,000 tests, compared to a rate of nine positive results per 1,000 tests for the other suppliers, according to statistics from the program. Beef Products said its testing regime was more likely to detect contamination.
Despite some misgivings, school lunch officials say they use Beef Products because its price is substantially lower than ordinary meat trimmings, saving about $1 million a year.
Another snapshot of processed beef’s performance emerges from confidential records of tests in 2007 by the food giant Cargill. In the preceding year and a half, Cargill, which used more than 50 vendors, suspended three facilities for excessive salmonella; two were Beef Products plants, records show.
Since introducing the treated meat, Beef Products has faced the challenge of balancing safety with taste, records and interviews show.
Pathogens died when enough ammonia was used to raise the alkalinity of the beef to a high level, company research found. But early on, school lunch officials and other customers complained about the taste and smell of the beef. Samples of the processed beef obtained by The Times revealed lower levels of alkalinity, suggesting less ammonia was used.
Beef Products acknowledged lowering the alkalinity, and the U.S.D.A. said it had determined that “at least some of B.P.I.’s product was no longer receiving the full lethality treatment.”
Beef Products said it had submitted new research to the agriculture department showing that its treatment remained effective with lower alkalinity. Agriculture officials said Beef Products’ latest study is under review.

Headstrong and self-assured, Eldon N. Roth had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time. Mr. Roth spent the 1990s looking to give Beef Products a competitive edge by turning fatty slaughterhouse trimmings into usable lean beef.
Mr. Roth and others in the industry had discovered that liquefying the fat and extracting the protein from the trimmings in a centrifuge resulted in a lean product that was desirable to hamburger-makers.The greater challenge was eliminating E. coli and salmonella, which are more prevalent in fatty trimmings than in higher grades of beef. According to a 2003 study financed by Beef Products, the trimmings “typically includes most of the material from the outer surfaces of the carcass” and contains “larger microbiological populations.” Beef Products said it also used trimmings from inside cuts of meat. Mr. Roth was well suited to tackle the problem, friends say. Though lacking a science background, he had a knack for machinery and obtained patents for over two dozen pieces of equipment and methods used in processing beef.
“He looked and looked at stuff and always wondered, why can’t it be done this way?” said Dr. David M. Theno, a food safety consultant and friend of Mr. Roth. “He is like a lot of inventors. Not everyone sees Eldon’s vision. One of Mr. Roth’s early trials involved running electricity through the trimmings to kill bacteria, Dr. Theno and others said. Mr. Roth eventually settled on ammonia, which had been shown to suppress spoilage. Meat is sent through pipes where it is exposed to ammonia gas, and then flash frozen and compressed — all steps that help kill pathogens, company research found.
The treated beef landed in Washington in 2001, when federal officials were searching for ways to eliminate E. coli. Beef Products already had one study showing its treatment would do that; another company-sponsored study by an Iowa State University professor that was published in a professional journal seconded that finding.
Mr. Roth asserted that his product would kill pathogens in untreated meat when it was used as an ingredient in ground beef — raising the prospect of a risk-free burger. “Given the technology, we firmly believe that the two pathogens of major concern in raw ground beef — E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella — are on the verge of elimination,” Mr. Roth wrote to the department.
"The humane treatment of the animals is at best an afterthought, as is the welfare of all the humans who consume these products."
Carl S. Custer, a former U.S.D.A. microbiologist, said he and other scientists were concerned that the department had approved the treated beef for sale without obtaining independent validation of the potential safety risk. Another department microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, called the processed beef "pink slime" in a 2002 e-mail message to colleagues and said, “I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling.”
One of the toughest hurdles for Beef Products was the Agricultural Marketing Service, the U.S.D.A. division that buys food for school lunches. Officials cited complaints about the odor, and wrote in a 2002 memorandum that they had “to determine if the addition of ammonia to the product is in the best interest to A.M.S. from a quality standpoint.”
“It is our contention,” the memo added, “that product should be labeled accordingly.”
Represented by Dennis R. Johnson, a top lawyer and lobbyist for the meat industry, Beef Products prevailed on the question of whether ammonia should be listed as an ingredient, arguing that the government had just decided against requiring another company to list a chemical used in treating poultry.
School lunch officials said they ultimately agreed to use the treated meat because it shaved about 3 cents off the cost of making a pound of ground beef.“Several packers have unofficially raised concern regarding the use of the product since the perception of quality is inferior,” the 2002 memo said. “But will use product to obtain lower bid.”
In 2004, lunch officials increased the amount of Beef Products meat allowed in its hamburgers to 15 percent, from 10 percent, to increase savings. In a taste test at the time, some school children favored burgers with higher amounts of processed beef.
Beef Products does not disclose its earnings, but its reported production of seven million pounds a week would generate about $440 million in annual revenue, according to industry records.
Dr. Theno, the food safety consultant, applauds Mr. Roth for figuring out how to convert high-fat trimmings “with no functional value.”
“There were some issues with that,” Dr. Theno said. “But he, and God bless him, amassed a tidy fortune for it.”
As sales took off, Mr. Roth started offering a buy-back guarantee: If any of the most virulent E. coli was found in ground beef containing Beef Products meat, the company would buy the tainted meat.
This was based on Mr. Roth’s initial prediction that his treated beef could kill E. coli in any meat it was mixed with. The company acknowledges that its subsequent study found no evidence to back that up, although it says it is now trying with an enhanced treatment. The guarantee remains on the company Web site: “Contact a B.P.I. sales representative today to take the challenge!”
As suppliers of national restaurant chains and government-financed programs were buying Beef Product meat to use in ground beef, complaints about its pungent odor began to emerge.
In early 2003, officials in Georgia returned nearly 7,000 pounds to Beef Products after cooks who were making meatloaf for state prisoners detected a “very strong odor of ammonia” in 60-pound blocks of the trimmings, state records show.
“It was frozen, but you could still smell ammonia,” said Dr. Charles Tant, a Georgia agriculture department official. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Unaware that the meat was treated with ammonia — since it was not on the label — Georgia officials assumed it was accidentally contaminated and alerted the agriculture department. In their complaint, the officials noted that the level of ammonia in the beef was similar to levels found in contamination incidents involving chicken and milk that had sickened schoolchildren.
Beef Products said the ammonia did not pose a danger and would be diluted when its beef was mixed with other meat. The U.S.D.A. accepted Beef Product’s conclusion, but other customers had also complained about the smell.
Untreated beef naturally contains ammonia and is typically about 6 on the pH scale, near that of rain water and milk. The Beef Products’ study that won U.S.D.A. approval used an ammonia treatment that raised the pH of the meat to as high as 10, an alkalinity well beyond the range of most foods. The company’s 2003 study cited the “potential issues surrounding the palatability of a pH-9.5 product.”
Soon after getting initial approval from the agriculture department, the company devised a plan to make a less alkaline version of the beef, internal company documents show. Beef Products acknowledged in an e-mail exchange that it was making a lower pH version, but did not specify the level or when it began selling it.
In 2008, after the school lunch program temporarily suspended a Beef Products plant for salmonella contamination, the company wrote in a letter that its effort to combat ammonia “aroma” might have reduced the alkalinity below the initial target levels. It said it was taking steps to ensure that the alkalinity remained elevated.
Samples of the treated beef obtained by The Times this month showed a pH as low as 7.75, according to an analysis by two laboratories. Dr. Michael P. Doyle, a food industry consultant and director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, said one point on the exponential pH scale was a considerable difference, and “could have a significant effect on the antimicrobial effectiveness of the ammonia.”
This month, Beef Products provided The Times with new research that the company said showed that E. coli and salmonella were undetectable at a pH level of 8.5. The agriculture department said it did not learn that Beef Products was using lower levels until October, after inquiries by The Times, and that it was studying the company’s research.
McDonald’s, whose hamburgers have contained Beef Products meat since 2004, declined to say if it monitored it for pH. But Danya Proud, a chain spokeswoman, said, “We expect the pH level to meet the specifications that are approved by the U.S.D.A.”
Contamination and Notification
At 6:36 a.m. on Aug. 10, the Beef Products plant in South Sioux City, Neb., started up its production line for the school lunch program. In 60 minutes, the plant produced a batch of 26,880 pounds of processed beef that tested positive for E. coli.
Six days later at the same plant, another 26,880-pound lot was found to have salmonella, government records and interviews show.
Within hours of confirming the contamination, the school lunch division of the Agriculture Department in Washington began investigating.
Just down the hall at department headquarters, the division that oversees meat for the general public did not conduct its own inquiry for another month and half, after receiving questions from The Times.
The problems in South Sioux City came shortly after school lunch officials had suspended a Beef Products plant in Holcomb, Kan., for excessive salmonella. The main U.S.D.A. was not notified of the suspension by school lunch officials, and the plant continued to supply other customers.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has since directed school lunch officials to share information about their suspensions with the department’s meat safety division.
In addressing the latest contamination cases in Nebraska, Beef Products said it suspected a glitch in its treatment operations, referring to ammonia gas by its chemical name, NH3, according to an e-mail message to school lunch officials.
“The system was stopped for two minutes in order to install a new valve,” the company said. “When the system was restarted, there was product flow for approximately one minute without NH3 flow.”
After the school lunch officials replied that the glitch might explain only one of the two episodes, Beef Products shifted focus to its suppliers, saying it would more closely scrutinize them for contamination.
Under the U.S.D.A.’s new policy for Beef Products, the company itself is also likely to get more scrutiny.
Cargill, one of the nation’s largest hamburger makers, is a big buyer of Beef Products’ ammoniated trimmings for its patties. Company records show that Beef Products, like other suppliers, has periodically exceeded Cargill’s limits on acceptable bacteria levels. That led Cargill to stop buying meat from two Beef Products plants for several months in 2006 after company tests showed excessive levels of salmonella.
But the following year, when Cargill faced an E. coli outbreak, it ruled out Beef Products as a possible culprit, citing the U.S.D.A.’s view that the ammonia treatment provided a “lethality step” for the pathogen. In addition, Cargill officials said recently, they suspect that another supplier, not Beef Products, was the problem. As a result, Beef Products did not face as wide a recall as other Cargill suppliers.
Recently, another E. coli outbreak was traced to a hamburger maker in upstate New York that also used multiple suppliers, including Beef Products. This time, the agriculture department said Beef Products was being recalled with other suppliers, although a source of the contamination had not been identified.
“This will continue to be our approach going forward,” the department said.

It's Beef and It's Good for Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Forget everything you think you know about beef. That it's high in saturated fat. That the best cuts are marbleized with fat. That it's a splurge food. That it increases your risk for certain diseases.
It turns out that a lot of these issues are triggered by an unnatural pH in a cow's first stomach. The fermentation chamber that initiates what will ultimately be the critical balance of fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins and enzymes that are essential for human nutrition, the first stomach must be healthy in order for an animal to produce healthy meat. Forage-grazing animals have a healthy, highly-functioning pH of 7, which allows for an abundance of the essential fermentation bacteria that create high levels of CLA, omega-3s, branch-chain amino acids, vitamins and digestive enzymes.
But even a small amount of grain can throw all this off: just 30 days on a grain diet can offset 200 days of grazing chemistry. Unfortunately, when an animal lives on a heavy-starch grain diet, that healthy pH 7 suddenly plummets to a highly acidic pH 4. With this increase in acidity comes a different kind of fermentation bacteria: one that impedes the production of healthy fats like omega-3s and CLA and increases the level of omega-6s. Another troubling side effect? Animals require daily doses of low-level, feed-grade antibiotics to allow their livers to cope with abnormal acidity. And as if all that weren't bad enough, this less-than-perfect management system demands that grain-fed animals be given growth hormones to quickly fatten them in the race to harvest. But all this new weight doesn't come in the form of healthy, lean muscle. With less exercise than their pasture-raised, forage-fed counterparts, grain-fed animals develop the heavier, marbled muscle mass that is the hallmark of a high-carbohydrate, low-fiber diet. It's no wonder most beef isn't good for you: the ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 approach 20 to1, CLA and vitamin levels are minimal, and it's full of antibiotics and hormones. No wonder we've all been told for years to eat chicken and fish to offset our beef consumption. Not grass fed-beef. With a natural diet of high-protein, low-starch lush forages combined with daily exercise and clean water, our pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle are some of the healthiest animals around. Though it may take a little longer for them to develop, we ban the use of any hormones. And since our animals have a healthy pH of 7, there's no need for antibiotics. Grass-fed cattle are hearty and content thriving on the best of the environment. Even better, they pass the wealth of nutrients they consume in their daily diet on to you. Grass-fed beef is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy fat found in salmon, in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a proven cancer fighter, as well as vitamins A and E, branch-chain amino acids, digestive enzymes and essential nutrients that are known for their antioxidant properties. When it comes to nutrition, grass-fed beef truly is a completely different animal.

Grass-Fed Beef- The Healthy Alternative

noreply@blogger.com (Steve) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Grass-fed beef is a healthy alternative to factory produced grain fed beef. Grass-fed beef is lower in both fat and calories- a great option for beef lovers looking for heart-healthy, lower calorie options. Grass-fed beef is higher in Omega-3 fatty acids- essential for enhancing heart health and reducing the risk of arthritis, obesity, insulin resistance, allergies and autoimmune diseases. Grass-fed beef is also higher in beta-carotene, which has proven helpful in reducing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.