Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce

I recently visited New Zealand, where I learned that some farmers raise grass-fed Friesian bulls that are eventually slaughtered and used for human consumption. Most of the meat from these bulls is shipped to the United States, where fast-food chains sell it in hamburger sandwiches.

I learned about all these matters by questioning three farm men, two farm women, a butcher who is also a farmer, a livestock dealer, and a retired CEO of a meatpacking company. Two of the farmers raise sheep and bulls. One raises sheep and steers. The butcher raises pigs. The retired CEO raises flowers.

All these experts agreed that the bulls are butchered and boned in New Zealand, and that about 80 percent of the meat is sent to the U.S.A. to be turned into hamburgers. The remaining 20 percent goes to other countries, primarily to Japan. The hamburgers made in the United States contain about 85 percent bull meat, plus 15 percent fat that is added from other slaughtered cattle. Bulls themselves contain almost no fat.

I can promise you that the fast-food companies in the United States do not want me and my fellow Americans to know these facts. They don’t want us to know that they’re selling bull meat. Bulls create the wrong image. But that's the only image your taste buds will get if you pick the right day to buy your burger.