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I mean the first one is definitely true (or is an additional reason, especially as people age).

I think when people say "red meat is bad for you" they need to define red meat. Burgers and sausages - probably not great. Steak, chops etc - probably OK.



Red meat isn't "bad for you".

Eating too many cheeseburgers is a problem, mostly because it's easy to consume too many calories and cheeseburgers aren't good at making you feel full, but nothing is inherently wrong about red meat in a balanced diet, in fact it has many beneficial properties.


I'm pro red meat. To be clear - most of the ill effects ascribed to red meat are due to people eating shitty red meat with a load of crap added.


Cured meats have issues. In moderation, I think they also have their place.


Why do you believe a steak is better than a burger? Isn't burger ground steak?


> Isn't burger ground steak?

It very much depends where you get it.

From a butcher that grinds it in front of you? sure. Frozen patties from the average cheap supermarket ? You might have less than 70% meat, and some of it might be from sick horses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_horse_meat_scandal


You're implying that this somewhat isolated incident (which, if you see the causes, seems to be related to cross-border mistranslation of words and relabeling issues) is cause to assume that every piece of ground beef you buy at a store is garbage. Seems like quite the leap of logic to me.


Oh no that's just the worst case scenario. Go to any Lidl or similar and look up the nutrition labels on frozen patties.

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/4056489047520/hambur...

> beef preparation, ingredients: 88% beef "origin: beigia), egg*, salt, wheat flour, water, yeast, herbs, spices, dextrose, beef proteins, sugar, acid: lemon - zuur, antioxidants: ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, *of dab releieren, may contain traces of other grains containing gluten, milk, seiderij, mustard and soy

Another one: https://www.coursesu.com/p/steaks-haches-burger-prix-mini-10....

> Beef 51% (EU origin), rehydrated SOJA protein 30%, water, beef fat, vegetable fiber, salt, glucose syrup, flavoring, herbs, dehydrated beet. May contain traces of gluten.

And another: https://www.carrefour.fr/p/steaks-haches-special-burger-tend...

> beef from France 75%, water, rehydrated pea protein 3.5%, vegetable fiber, alcohol vinegar, natural flavors, dextrose, starch, dehydrated red beet, salt, pepper.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7379565/Do-know-m...


What exactly is wrong with those ingredients lists, especially the first one? Those all look like standard things you would put in a burger patty (egg, salt, herbs, spices) with the addition of the usual preservatives and other agents to help them being a burger patty shape.

The stuff that's subbing other protein blends in... well, that seems unrelated to the beef content there. You're just picking crap patties.

When I think of beef patty, I think of buying ground beef and then making my own. It's literally as simple as salt, spices, maybe an egg, and some simple prep. No worry about pea protein or soy protein additives.


idk man you do you but my beef patties surely have more than 51% meat in them.

You should watch a few documentaries about industrial scale food factories, especially meat: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10tzbi

What ends up in a lot of supermarket patties is the leftover of all the other "higher quality" meat parts, you get stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aponeurosis &c. which don't exist in regular minced meat. We even have a term for these in France, "minerai de viande", literally "meat ore", back in the days it mostly went to the trash or for animal food. Some products are so processed that they can't be legally named "meat" but "meat preparations"


Can hamburger meat contain other ingredients?

If labeled as a "Hamburger," it can contain all beef or beef and beef fat. Other permitted ingredients include dry seasonings like spices and flavorings. Water (and other liquids) and fillers (like breadcrumbs and flours) are not permitted. Products including these ingredients may be called "Beef Patties" and the added ingredients must be listed on the label. https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Can-hamburger-meat-contain-ot...

For the US, obviously. You sound like you may be in another country.

I'll add that LFTB (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime), which is meat, can be up to 15% of the content of ground beef.


So, then make your own patties like I suggest then? Also, meat preparations seems like an accurate term for something like a patty that contains herbs, spices, and possibly egg ingredients. Nothing nefarious there to my mind.


> So, then make your own patties like I suggest then?

Sure, but look at what people buy ... the "meat bad" argument (the start of this conversation) comes from the fact that people are allowed to consume absolute garbage. A steak from your local farmer hasn't much to do with your cheap supermarket bacon or the "51% meat" patty which are both much more processed and contains god knows what


It seems the problem is that Europe has crap ground beef. That's not a problem in America, since we like our ground beef.

This is pretty typical of the Ingredients list for a burger patty in the U.S.: https://www.vons.com/shop/product-details.960119123.html?pro...

100% ground beef

That's true of the patties ground up by the store's butcher and the ones in the freezer section. It's also true of our ground beef (aka minced meat).


> some of it might be from sick horses

What kinds of sickness would make horse flesh a worse source of meat than cattle flesh?


Swap burgers for salami or something then.


Ideally yes but in reality it is low quality meat that is fortified and highly processed.


Buy better burgers


What do you mean fortified?


They very often add vitamins and minerals to low quality products to make up for bad nutritional values


What bad nutritional values? It's beef. Are you implying that some fancy high end ground beef has materially different contents of vitamins and minerals compared to cheap ground beef at a store? I'd like to see sources on that.


100% beef fat also is beef.

100% beef patties made form 50% meat and 50% additives also is beef

You see where I'm going ? Lot of patties are made from absolute dog shit meat parts, skin, fat, scraps, byproducts, &c.


>100% beef patties made form 50% meat and 50% additives also is beef

I'm pretty sure this isn't correct. According to the USDA

>Beef fat may be added to "hamburger," but not "ground beef." A maximum of 30% fat is allowed in either hamburger or ground beef. Both hamburger and ground beef can have seasonings, but no water, phosphates, extenders, or binders added.

For Hannaford supermarkets at least, the ground beef burger patties that you get out of the meat case next to the ground beef are made from ground beef. They are likely the ground beef FROM those packs, formed into patties by Craig in the back and then put in a new container. It used to be normal for these stores to actually HAVE butchers (my dad was one for decades), and grind and pack the ground beef right there, with a beautiful stainless steel grinder that you can literally hose down with bleach every night. You might even still be able to ask them to grind you some fresh stuff right then and there, that was a service they explicitly advertised at one point.


It’s about beef paties. Here a good comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37559265


Every ground beef I've ever purchased has a stated fat to lean ratio. So, 100% beef fat is not ever gonna happen.

As per the 'patties are made of dog shit' claim... the difference in cost between beef with a stated location/content (e.g., sirloin, or chuck) and the generic ground beef is so low I don't see how your claim could be true. And if you're actually worried about that, just buy patties with a stated location of the cut.


I'll let you check my other comment with examples to not repeat myself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37557686

People don't care much but a lot of food is very far from what you'd expect. A butcher's minced meat isn't the same as a supermarket's minced meat despite having the same name, some of them are barely 50% meat




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