What’s easier than a hamburger? Take a piece of ground beef, toss it on the grill, wait a few minutes until the fat sizzles, maybe add some cheese, and stick it to the bread. This is typical American action, happening countless times a day across the country. In fact, the average American eats three hamburgers a week. With more meat than ever, beef prices are 30% lower today than in 1970, making it more attractive to consumers looking for a quick, cheap meal.
But in Modern Meat, FRONTLINE enters the world of the modern American meat industry and shows that a once-simple product like the hamburger isn’t so simple anymore.
You also can’t assume it’s safe. While the overhaul of the meat industry — making it more centralized, technologically rich and efficient — led to low prices, the transformation also brought new risks. In “Modern Meat,” FRONTLINE interviews scientists and industry observers who say congregating thousands of dairy cows in a feedlot makes it easier for bacteria to spread from one animal to another.
“Dairy cows tend to produce manure [and] the manure is mostly bacteria,” says Glenn Morris, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland and a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official. “In larger feedlots,” he adds, “there’s more opportunity for microbes to move back and forth. All of that contributes to the spread of microbes like E. coli.”
