Food - Drink
The Unexpected Number Of Cows A Single Burger's Meat Could Come From
By CYRENA GOURDEAU
Former Washington Post journalist Roberto A. Ferdman came to the epiphany that his burger was likely a mash-up of muscle tissue from multiple cows, but wanted to investigate how many that multiple actually was. The answer was — unsurprisingly or not, depending on one’s familiarity with the meat industry — more than a few.
Ferdman found that one single McDonald's patty can contain the meat of up to a shocking 100 cows. For context, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service, the average size of a cattle herd in 2017 was 43.5 cows, which means one burger alone can take down 2 ⅓ cow herds.
Most hamburgers that are consumed from fast-food joints are likely a product of the industrialized meat industry. Such consumption would not be possible in the natural world of eating, and no doubt some burger lovers will find the idea of their beef patty as a mash-up of hundreds of cows unsettling.