I think we've talked about the mysterious pink slime that's added to cheap ground beef. It's normally inedible fatty bits found near the hide that are spun in a centrifuge to separate out the lean protein. Then it's sprayed with ammonia to kill bacteria (because it probably comes into contact with the dirty hide). Then they can put that in your ground beef as a filler and not tell you because technically it's all beef. Yum, right?!

I had a big weird conversation with my butcher this morning. He assures me that he grinds up chuck roasts to make ground chuck, sirloin to make ground sirloin, etc. The fresh ground beef behind the counter is high quality, nothing funky going on, and the prices reflect it. The prices of the grass fed and organic beef really reflect it. However if you buy generic "ground beef" you're living on the edge, or at least living on bland tasting burger. 

This fearless man conducted a pink slime taste test. Blah! 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/pink-slime-taste-test/

I agree about the juice thing. I cooked 4 grass fed burgers today and at one point was trying to figure out how to pour some of the liquid off of them because it was getting ridiculous. Real beef is super juicy.

Do you eat ground beef? Do you eat whatever or are you kind of a freak about getting the best? I'm a freak unless I'm in a fast food restaurant. At that point, you're already taking your life into your hands, so why not just go for it. :-)