Deco, Portugal’s ever-vigilant consumer protection body, has found "millions of bacteria" in hamburgers being sold by local butcher’s shops.
Salmonella and E. Coli, of faecal origin, have been found in samples. This can lead to serious infection so Deco has warned consumers not to buy hamburgers or any meat that already has been minced.
Many of the samples tested also showed that additives had been used to make the meat look fresher than it actually was.
In a study published today, Deco says it identified meat stored at too high temperatures contining "millions of bacteria per gramme", including salmonella and E. Coli, too much fat and sulfites illegally being used as preservatives.
"We totally disagree with the purchase of pre-minced beef and prepared burger in the butchers," stated Deco’s Nuno Lima Dias, who says that the government should ban the sale of pre-minced meat.
Deco went to 25 butchers in Lisbon and Oporto and asked for beefburgers that did not contain cereals or vegetables, so that they would be free of sulphites, but nevertheless found these types of preservatives, in a "hidden and illegal way," in 80% of the samples, sometimes in "huge quantities".
Sulfites can cause allergies, nausea, headaches, skin, digestive and respiratory problems, warned Dias, adding that the allergic reaction may, although in very rare cases, be life-threatening.
The butchers in the survey were storing meat at temperatures "far above what the law allows," added Dias, noting that it is recommended not to exceed two degrees centigrade, but the average is around eight degrees but researches fund some cases of 14 degrees.
Nuno Lima Dias stated that "consumers are unprotected" when they buy burgers that are already prepared, since there is no way to detect, looking at the meat, if it is of inferior quality, especially when sulfites are used, which avoid the meat going brown.
Deco says the answer is simple, ask the butcher to mince a piece of meat that you have selected, or do it yourself at home.
Food Inspectorate, ASAE, last year prosecuted 134 butchers for failing to to comply with various rules, including hygiene. Fines were handed out and 20 butchers were prosecuted for criminal offences inclucing clandestine slaughtering and selling defective products.
