Ground beef

[lilo]

 There were some threads about this topic in this forum,but i still cant be sure.A few months ago i saw old articles of our celiac foundations page and other sites about celiac,which were telling you to avoid buying ground beef from butcher and supermarket.Like the butcher may use the machine for breadcrumbs then use it again for meat. Since then i buy only normal meat ,only sliced.I dont go to butcher for this reason anymore,though i want to.I shop from a chain supermarket butcher because the meatballs come readily packaged from a factory and they dont contaminate any meats with breadcrumbs.But i dont know if i can buy ground beef there too? I see  many celiacs buying ground beef without paying attention to possible contamination.I dont know why celiac associations doesn't talk about this topic anymore.

[Ennis-TX]

59 minutes ago, lilo said:

 There were some threads about this topic in this forum,but i still cant be sure.A few months ago i saw old articles of our celiac foundations page and other sites about celiac,which were telling you to avoid buying ground beef from butcher and supermarket.Like the butcher may use the machine for breadcrumbs then use it again for meat. Since then i buy only normal meat ,only sliced.I dont go to butcher for this reason anymore,though i want to.I shop from a chain supermarket butcher because the meatballs come readily packaged from a factory and they dont contaminate any meats with breadcrumbs.But i dont know if i can buy ground beef there too? I see  many celiacs buying ground beef without paying attention to possible contamination.I dont know why celiac associations doesn't talk about this topic anymore.

Sort of a rare occurrence and many do not want ot think about it or worry about it. I buy ground turkey often from jenny-0 I get ground longhorn from a local farmer I know well who only processes longhorn raw burger and use it in my chef work. You really only have to worry about chain store and small butchers FRESH made ground packaged meats, I personally stick to sealed chain companies I can trust did it in a large meat only facility, and never get anything preseasoned.

[Gemini]

I have been gluten free for 13 years and have always bought freshly ground meat at Whole Foods or at a butchers. Ground burger, bison, buffalo, turkey....you get the picture.  They would not put breadcrumbs through the same grinder that they use for meat.  They may make sausages or mix up meatloaf, pre-made to sell, but that stuff doesn't have added ingredients until after it is ground. The grinders for meat are pretty large and are made for grinding meat, not breadcrumbs.  As I have never been glutened or anything close to it all these years of eating freshly ground meat, I think that this concern is WAY overblown.  You can always speak with the butcher and ask what they pass through the grinder.  Is it just fresh meat or something else?  There are many topics that Celiac associations do not address because they are a non-issue. Just make sure you are getting your information from reputable Celiac sites and not from any celebrity books or ones which are over the top and tell people that vegetables will gluten you. 

[sstar]

I have seriously had problems with ground beef lately and I could not understand why. Perhaps this is the reason. Maybe they used the same gloves for making meatballs (with breadcrumbs) and then went on to slap some ground beef in a package? I had never even considered this. Guess I really do have to make the commitment to shop at Whole Foods and not the cheap place.

[Gemini]

On 1/30/2018 at 4:23 PM, sstar said:

I have seriously had problems with ground beef lately and I could not understand why. Perhaps this is the reason. Maybe they used the same gloves for making meatballs (with breadcrumbs) and then went on to slap some ground beef in a package? I had never even considered this. Guess I really do have to make the commitment to shop at Whole Foods and not the cheap place.

Usually, and for food safety reasons, meat that is being ground by the butcher will not see any other food prep area.  If they are making meatballs or anything else with a gluten containing component, it would be in a separate area from the meat grinders.  I know that it might be hard to make sure this is followed in every single food store but I have never personally seen this happen.  You can see into the meat grinding area of the Whole Foods I go to and it's just a bunch of guys grinding large amounts of meat and nothing else. 

I buy all my protein from Whole Foods and nowhere else.  The one I go to is phenomenal and they have the most selection of game meats and the quality is fantastic.  I have also been to other branches that weren't as good so just being Whole Foods doesn't give you a 100% guarantee. But ask at the meat counter to see what their protocol is.  They field many allergy related questions so they do get it, for the most part.  I know they are expensive BUT I buy what is on sale for the week to ease the cost.  My feeling is that protein is important and I want the best quality there is. The extra money I spend there on quality food is like spending money on your health care. I do not eat out all that often so have the extra money to spend at the food store.  I am sure there are other store brands that are just as good for quality but where I live, I have found Whole Foods to be the best.  But I do buy other packaged foods and some veggies from other suppliers that cost less but still have great quality.

[notme]

i buy ground meat at the butcher.  it's a small shop.  they know i have to be gluten free.  everything is clean and they even change their gloves between different proteins (ie:they won't touch the pork chops with the gloves they just touched chicken with) meat grinder only grinds meat and they clean it between batches.  

my daughter works in the deli department of a grocery store and the rules they have to follow for food safety/cc, etc, are stringent.   plain ground meat should be just that:  plain ground meat therefore safe.

[LilyR]

I haven't seemed to have issues with hamburg from the stores. But I had an issue with some frozen patties. I was getting Bubba Burgers, the angus ones in the black box and those were fine. Now the store stopped carrying those so I got the original (which comes in like a brown box) and the two times I had them, I got bad stomach distention and discomfort.  It doesn't make sense since the ingredients show no gluten, and the black box of the angus ones never bothered me. It sure is weird, and hit or miss sometimes. But great thing to think about cross contamination with meats in grocery stores.