Is T.G.I. Friday's hamburger really a safer supper?

THE MENU AT T.G.I. Friday's tempts you with pictures of ice-cold margaritas, bloody Marys and Lynchburg lemonades. Only after you flip past those do you come to the fullpage photo of the towering hamburger.

It's not just any burger.

It's the "100 percent Natural Angus Burger," the subject of the restaurant company's new $12 million to $15 million advertising campaign. Only four years ago, some Texas cattlemen were trying to sue talk-show host Oprah Winfrey for libel after she disparaged hamburgers on her show. They didn't succeed, but that's not the point.

Now, from Texas, the world capital of beef, a major corporation has begun selling "natural" beef to the mainstream tastes of American diners - at the rate of 1 million hamburgers a month. "No antibiotics," the menu proclaims. "No hormones."

This major marketing effort by Friday's may be the first clear signal that ordinary Americans are thinking about - and worrying about - the beef they eat.

Consumer, animal-protection and environmental groups applauded the effort in a recent letter to Wallace Doolin, president and CEO of the Dallas-based company.

The letter cited his "outstanding leadership in providing high-quality, sustainably produced food to your customers." It was signed by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Humane Society of the United States, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and other groups.

Executives of the national restaurant chain say they want to sell a burger that "not only resonates with burger connoisseurs, but with consumers who want the assurance of source-verified, all-natural hamburger."

According to Friday's research, two out of three hamburger eaters would prefer an "all-natural burger if given a choice."

For the beloved American hamburger, this may represent a profound change in perception like those that have reshaped other American products from automobiles (safety features and anti-pollution devices) to cigarettes (warning labels and legal restrictions).

Friday's is betting that America is willing to pay for safer beef.

But beyond any commercial considerations, this Brave New Burger raises an obvious question:

If Friday's is so different, what about the burgers we're eating now?

What have I been eating everywhere else?

It's probably "natural" beef, at least as defined by the United States.

The government allows the term natural to be applied to "products that contain no artificial ingredients, coloring ingredients or chemical preservatives."

That's just about all beef sold by reputable dealers, including national restaurant and supermarket chains that cross state lines.

Some livestock producers go a little further, however. Some beef labeled natural, including Lexington, Ky.-based Laura's Lean, extends the definition to refer to cattle raised without antibiotics or growth hormones.

Why are beef cattle fed antibiotics anyway?

It is common for beef-cattle producers to feed their animals a subtherapeutic dose of antibiotics - that is, not to treat a specific illness, but to prevent the cattle from becoming ill, and to promote weight gain.

"Tetracycline, penicillin, erythromycin and other antimicrobials that are important in human use are used extensively" in livestock production, says a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"There are periods of time that cattle are under stress, for instance when they've been transported from a ranch to a feed lot," said Gary Weber, executive director of regulatory affairs for the National Cattleman's Beef Association in Washington, D.C. During transportation and during extreme weather, the cattle might be treated with antibiotics.

In addition, antibiotics are given to healthy animals to help them gain weight, which makes them worth more.

What's wrong with using antibiotics?

Nothing, according to cattle-industry representatives, who, in past decades, have convinced Congress of that position.

But a growing body of evidence suggests that overuse of antibiotics - in agriculture and in human medical treatment - can create drug-resistant bacteria. That is, the bugs adapt to the medicine, becoming superbugs that are very difficult to treat.

As long ago as 1977, the Food and Drug Administration proposed withdrawing the use of penicillin and tetracyclines from animal feed and water. Critics argued that there was no proof that superbugs transfer from animals to humans and cause disease, and Congress didn't act.

In the last few years, several organizations have made a larger case against the use of antibiotics in animal food. In June, The American Medical Association adopted a resolution opposing the use of antibiotics in healthy animals. The American Public Health Association and the World Health Organization passed similar resolutions.

The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70 percent of all antibiotics produced in the United States are fed to healthy farm animals.

The overuse of antibiotics "has the potential to plunge us back into medicine's Dark Ages, when doctors couldn't treat infections caused by bacteria," said Dr. David Wallinga, a physician with the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Meyer Natural Angus (Friday's supplier), Lexington-based Laura's Lean Beef and several other natural beef producers, use antibiotics only to treat sick animals, which are then removed from their natural programs - that is, sold as generic beef, not as the natural-branded product.

For more information on antibiotics in beef production, visit www.ucsusa.org , www.iatp.org or www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/anti resist.html.

For alternative resources for beef, visit www.iatp.org .

What does it mean when a label claims that "no animal protein" has been used in the feed?

The government allows cattle feed to contain animal byproducts.

When Winfrey learned that beef cows were eating the remains of other cows that had been ground up and rendered, she said she was "stopped cold from eating another burger."

Many people suspect that feeding ruminants to ruminants closes a loop in the spread of infectious mad cow disease, transmitting it from one animal to another. Since 1997 the United States has not allowed waste from cattle production to be fed back to cattle.

However, U.S. rules allow cattle feed to contain waste products of swine, horses, fish and chicken, including chicken litter. In addition, fish and chicken are often fed byproducts from cattle production.

The European Union does not allow animal food to contain animal protein; neither do American cattle producers such as Meyer, Laura's Lean or Coleman Natural Beef.

For more information on what is and is not allowed in livestock feed, visit the Web site www.fda.gov/cvm .

So I don't need to worry about mad cow disease in this country, right?

No bovine spongiform encephalopathy (its proper name) has been found in the United States.

"Since 1985 we have not imported any beef from the UK," said beef-industry spokesman Gary Weber, adding, "We have quite a good regulatory system in place that prevents their problems from becoming our problems."

On the other hand, the United States permits a practice called "advanced meat recovery" that allows beef processors to mechanically strip soft tissue from bones. The resulting beef "paste" is used in hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza toppings and taco fillings.

Nervous-system tissue seems to be the means of transmitting mad cow disease to humans in the United Kingdom cases.

This country asks beef processors to remove neck bones and spinal cords before meat recovery takes place. But critics contend that controls on the industry are few: Of 100 tests on beef since 1998, nine samples were found to have spinal-cord tissue, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Many groups steer clear of this beef. McDonald's won't buy it. Neither will Burger King, Wendy's and Jack-in-the-Box.

"Though BSE (mad cow disease) hasn't been found in U.S. cattle, the USDA and the meat industry must take all sensible precautions to block that pathway," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

What about hormones? Why are they used in cattle, and will they hurt me?

Hormone implants placed in the ears of beef cattle cause them to growmore efficiently, putting on more weight in a shorter time than untreated animals.

Virtually all beef producers who claim their product is natural - including Meyer and Laura's Lean - use no hormones.

There is scant evidence to show that hormones effect human health, according to Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America and a former Department of Agriculture official. She says pathogens - including salmonella and E. coli 0157:H7 - are of much greater concern to public health.

Still, she says, advertising hormone-free beef may be "a good marketing device."

Does T.G.I. Friday's hamburger protect me against pathogens that cause food poisoning?

Its production does include extra precautions against bacteria, though all ground beef should be cooked to 160 degrees internal temperature to be considered safe.

In late 1992, a relatively unknown bacterium caused a food-poisoning outbreak in the West that sickened about 700 people and killed four. In 1997, a Hudson Foods processing plant in Nebraska recalled more than 25 million pounds of beef suspected of being contaminated with the same bug - E. coli 0157:H7.

These incidents and others gained much media attention for the bacteria, and for beef-processing methods and distribution in this country. Many people are concerned that huge processing facilities grinding millions of pounds of meat from cattle housed in crowded conditions will perpetuate the problem of pathogen risk.

That's one reason why many consumers prefer to eat "source-verified" beef - that is, meat that can be traced back to an individual producer, such as Meyer or Laura's Lean.

While generic E. coli is a common bug that lives in our intestines and helps us stay healthy, 0157:H7 is a specific strain that is highly resistant to acid, salt, chlorine, freezing and even heat. It also is resistant to treatment by antibiotics, and small doses of it can be lethal.

Beef-processing plants are required to test their products for generic E. coli - to see if there has been fecal contamination - and salmonella.

However, the beef industry is not required to test for 0157.H7 specifically, and the government does it only randomly.

Laura Freeman, owner of Laura's Lean Beef, says her beef is tested regularly for 0157:H7 organisms. And Ray Killian, president of Meyer Natural Angus, says his company "tests all trimmings for E. coli 0157:H7 prior to (grinding) the raw material. We never grind any raw material unless we have a clear test result."

I usually avoid red meat because I've heard the animals are raised in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

"One of the company's core values is that we have humane treatment of the animals," said Freeman. "We have fairly detailed specifications about water quality and square footage (allowed per animal)."

Meyer Natural Angus has been certified by the American Humane Association (the group that watches over animal treatment in movies), which has established standards and certification for animals raised in humane conditions.

Products receiving the group's approval bear the Free-Farmed label.

For more on humane farm practices and certification, visit www.freefarmed.org .