If you're a hamburger lover, you may lose your appetite after reading this. But we wanted to call attention this week to an eye-opening but stomach-turning report in The New York Times about the safety of ground beef. Sadly, the tale begins with a 22-year-old who became disabled after suffering a severe form of foodborne illness caused by E. coli. What did she eat? A hamburger.

An excerpt from the article explains: Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.

The newspaper traced the origin of the suspect burger through inspection and other records and displayed the results graphically in the Anatomy of a Hamburger. The investigation caused a stir in the capital with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack calling the situation "unacceptable and tragic."

More headlines
FDA takes enforcement action against ready-to-eat sandwich manufacturer
Food and Drug Administration
The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has filed a complaint for permanent injunction against Rel's Foods Inc. (Rel's), of Oakland, Calif., seeking to stop the company from manufacturing, producing, and selling adulterated food products. Read more ...

Preventing childhood burn injuries
Time
Between 1990 and 2006, overall numbers of burn injuries among children dropped by 31 percent, according to a study published in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics. Yet while that decrease is cause for celebration authors of the large scale study point out that burn injuries are still disproportionately high among younger children. Read more ...

Crusader tracks toll of kids strangled in blinds
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Tuesday morning, Linda Kaiser met Tiara Robinson. They both once had healthy, playful baby girls. Now, one was severely brain damaged. The other dead. And the killer is still dangling in most American homes. Read more ...

They're called "Child Safety Caps" but how safe are they?
WBIR.com
We have a warning for anyone with young children. Those child safety caps on medications in your cabinets might not work. "I just kept turning it like this and then it just came right undone," said kindergartener Walker. Read more ...

Garage sales and the CPSC: Sorting the facts from the myths
Product Safety Daily
It’s not true. Have you read news stories or heard from a friend that the government is going to start fining people who host yard sales or garage sales? It’s not true. Read more ...

Don't miss these recalls
After getting at least 100 more injury reports, DeVilbiss expanded a 2006 recall of pressure washers and air compressors to include 620,000 units -- 72,000 were recalled three years ago. The injuries include hand and finger fractures and lacerations, and reports of minor property damage and damage to vehicles. The December 2006 recall announcement reported more than 26 injuries. Also recalled:

• 84,000 Lowe's folding directors chairs (fall hazard)
• 900 Guardian full-face diving masks (visor can separate from mask)
• 430 Daiso wooden toys (choking hazard)
• 130 Daiso children’s toys, purses and pen cases (lead paint)

Safety news from our Cars blog
Our Cars franchise has been busy this week reporting on road hazards so we've gathered the posts here to share with our readers.

• Record low traffic fatalities this year
• Highlights from the distracted driving summit
• DriveSafely cell phone application
• Celebrity crash a reminder to set parking brakes
• Safety group calls for recall of 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee
• Toyota and Lexus car mat recall is official