I love ground beef. I'm not a germaphobic in any way.

But I would not eat raw grain-fed ground beef as it is washed in ammonia before packaging to prevent e-coli. As far as I know, an ammonia wash isn't done to grass-fed ground beef, especially if it's from a local source.

In addition, grain fed cattle feedlots are an awful thing-have you ever seen one? Horrid. The cows stand thigh deep in their own sh**, they are fed ground up candy, and all sorts of crappy high-carb grains, including corn and soy - not grass, like they are supposed to eat. They are all sickly from that diet so they are pumped full of antibiotics. I try to avoid eating even cooked beef from that source. I don't want to support it in any way.

When people eat grain-fed beef, they aren't eating the plants that the cows eat, but instead are eating the candy, corn and soy that the cows eat. Even if people don't care about feedlots or what the cows ingest, eating ammonia on a long term basis isn't beneficial to a human body.

JMO