New Video Tour Shows How Ground Beef and Hamburgers are Made

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ground beef and hamburgers are two of America's most beloved meat products, yet also among the most misunderstood when it comes to how they're made. With that in mind, American Meat Institute (AMI) has developed a new video as part of its "Glass Walls" series featuring a tour of a processing plant that produces ground beef for several major restaurant chains. The tour is led by Birchwood Foods/Kenosha Beef President and CEO Dennis Vignieri, whose family has been in the beef business for nearly 80 years.

The video highlights the entire process of making ground beef and hamburgers and shows how beef trimmings are analyzed and ground into a specific lean to fat ratio that consumers enjoy and finally formed into patties that are packaged and sent to restaurants or grocery stores. More than half of the beef consumed in the U.S. is ground beef.

"There are some misconceptions about how ground beef is made, but the process is actually much like you would do in your own kitchen, just on a larger scale," AMI Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Member Services Janet Riley . "We want consumers to see the process and know they can feel confident eating the burgers they love."

"Ground Beef: How It's Made" is the sixth video in AMI's Glass Walls series which also features tours of beef, pork and turkey plants led by animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, Ph.D., professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a thorough look at sanitation in meat plants as well as a look at how hot dogs are made. Those videos have been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube.

AMI also has several videos featuring experts addressing ground beef myths on its Meat Mythcrushers website.

The new video is available here on AMI's Meat News Network YouTube page. Complimentary copies are provided to teachers who cannot access YouTube. To receive a copy, send a request to Glass Walls Sanitation, 1150 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC, 20036 or email publicaffairs@meatami.com.