Rachel Ray......please get your facts straight

I recently heard that Rachel Ray was on The View and may have made a not so factual statement.  This is very frustrating because so many people look up to celebrities for the truth and when they make a false statement people seem to run with it without getting the facts.

Whoopi was about to bite into one of Rachel's Cuban patty melts when she asked if it was ok to eat burgers with a red center.  The burger looked a little pink and she was concerned if it would make her sick.  Rachel responded that if it was organic or grass fed then it was safe from E.coli and the recent food recalls were from mass produced meat.  Well this really got me thinking because I couldn't wrap my head around how it could really make a difference in the diet.  Don't get me wrong, I am not about to say that a certain way or raising and feeding cattle is better than another.  That is the best part about America is that we have a choice and everyone is entitled to their own choice.

I was out to find if a forage diet was resistant to E.coli compared to a grain fed diet as she referred to as mass produced.  Now the organic part confuses me because you can feed an organic grain based diet and an organic forage based diet so........not sure what she was insinuating there.  After much investigating of research it seemed to be the consensus that with cattle being fed different diets of grain or forage both had the capability to produce or did produce E.coli.  Both diets have shown to have no resistance to E.coli.  One of the best papers I found that explained this in easy to read format was that of Washington State University-College of Veterinary Medicine.

With that being said I would just like to say to all of you consumers out there to please get the facts before you make a decision instead of listening to celebrities or high profile people that may not speak the whole truth.   The safest way to ensure that you won't get E.coli from your burgers is to make sure they are cooked thoroughly.  So go out and grill yourself some delish summer beef!!!!