CBCNews.ca readers react to mechanical meat tenderizing

Our story about mechanically tenderized meat was the most viewed story on CBCNews.ca today. The CBC Community wrote hundreds of comments about the Marketplace investigation and the suggestion that mechanically tenderized meat should be labelled.

• "I am amazed that this process is legal. It should be a no-brainer that you cannot puncture a steak without a clear warning to cook it well done. Whatever happened to ethics?" said DDCorkum.
  
  
• "Never knew this. Always thought it was fine to eat a steak as rare as you want as long as you seared the outside surface of the meat. A steak isn't worth paying for if it's cooked beyond medium rare," said TeeBlack.
  
  
• "Simply labelling meat as mechanically tenderized will not make it any safer. If E. coli and other harmful bacteria are getting into meat, then preventing that from happening is a better solution, and that is a matter of better inspection," said Chancery.
  
  
• "If you wish to assume 100 per cent protection so be it but just don't complain when you find out there is no such thing as being 100 per cent sure that the meat has not been contaminated along the way to your table," said smurf127.
  
  
• "This is extremely disturbing news. I believed that I was fairly safe eating rare steaks. So much for that naivety. Label the damn product please so I can avoid needle tenderized meat. So, Mr. Harper, what are you going to do about this? Thank you Marketplace for bringing this dangerous health issue to the public eye," said dollardays.

Some commenters had suggestions beyond labelling meat as mechanically tenderized.

• "Irradiation of all meat is the best possible solution for the home market. People need to be educated about this no risk process that ensures all organisms are virtually sterilized. The meat tastes the same without any risks. I'll bet everyone has had a bout of food poisoning once in their lives, this kind of risk is unacceptable and more importantly totally avoidable in meat products," said Patishere.
  
  
• "Labeling should also include the source processing plant. E.g. Tenderized and produced at XL Foods Brooks, Alberta," said Dumbdog.
  
  
• "Better yet, don't eat it at all. Go vegetarian. Vegetarianism has grown in leaps and bounds since the 1960's. And by far, this is the most healthy way to live," replied cornwallwytche.

Thanks for following our coverage. You can continue the discussion in the comments below.