Eater Thinkage: The Meat Recall & In-N-Out
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

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On Sunday the USDA recalled 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a Chino slaughterhouse. They say a good portion of the meat has already been consumed, but that there's little health risk. Most of it went to U.S. school lunch programs, which sends a shiver down our spine. But fast food chains also got meat from the plant, and Irvine-based In-N-Out was one of the first to jump in and say it will no longer get beef from this facility. Commendable. But why did they at all?

"Our hamburgers are made from fresh, 100% pure beef. They are free of additives, fillers and preservatives of any kind, and we buy only chucks, the front ribs and shoulder. No other parts are ever used. Our butchers carefully hand-cut and grind the beef in our own facility at which point the patties are shipped directly to our stores in refrigerated trucks by our own drivers. This way we have total control over the production of every burger."

We loves our Double Double, but statements like that, found on the corporate website, make people (us) feel at ease about eating at In-N-Out. It's a reminder, however, that no matter what anyone says, there's so much we really don't know. By saying they'll "no longer" get meat from the Westland/Hartland Meat Co. means they have in the past, and practices at that facility didn't just surface overnight. They just finally got caught.
· USDA recalls 143 million pounds of beef [MSNBC]
· In-N-Out cancels beef contract [Daily Bulletin]

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