Americans Love Burgers: But Be Careful!

Americans love to eat hamburgers. A barbecue in the nice weather with family and friends is something I’m sure we all love. A nice juicy burger to bite into stacked with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and any other fixings of your choice. Homemade hamburgers are a treat but more commonly we depend on others for our burger supply. A quick stop at the fast food joint of your choice to grab a quick burger couldn’t be any easier. There’s so many to choose from, Wendy’s, McDonalds, Burger King, and soon.

There’s nothing like a fast food burger. Americans order them on a daily basis with out thinking twice. Recently, an article for msnbc was written about the scares of E. Coli in restaurants. Written by Tom Groneberg, he claims that “just .05 percent of U.S. beef is tested for deadly bacteria. That fact alone proves we should all think twice before gorging on an appealing burger.

Groneberg and his friend entered a Café in Missoula, Montana in search of a bite to eat. His friend tried to order a burger but was shut down when he learned they were unable to supply them due to the mad cow disease scare. E. coli or Escherichia coliform is the bacteria behind the recalls. They were classified as the most dangerous thing to order on the menu.

Something must be terribly wrong when an American has to think twice about eating a burger. From June to September of 2007, the scare prevailed when contaminated beef sickened fifty-five people. This certainly shook up the USDA.

But do average Americans really question their burgers before taking a first bite. On the campus of Ursinus College, the main burger supplier is the Grill 155 of the Zack’s Food Court. They sell chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, cheese steaks, and the infamous burger. They say their burgers are “grilled to perfection,” but do students trust this theory?

When talking to a couple of close friends, and observing the amount of burgers being made in Zack’s, it has become evident that the students on this campus don’t think twice before they order a burger. It’s simply a treat to have a
burger for dinner similar to a fast food style burger. During an average week, one student says she orders one about twice, and they’re usually delicious.

Students are unsure of the details about the burgers and the grade level of them. Many ask for their burgers to be well done. Sometimes, they aren’t cooked thoroughly and this does create worry for some students on campus. But simply over cooking the burgers cannot be seen as a solution or prevention to this problem.

Americans should think twice about eating burgers, or any kind of beef. It may not be easy to turn down ordering a burger but E. Coli is present and could potentially sicken anyone. Whether it’s homemade, from a fast food restaurant, or even from a college campus, we really aren’t sure just what we’re biting into.