Burger Survey 2025!

[Judge]

Maybe it's the spices? I know some spices like pepper make my acid reflux flare up but I'll be damned if I give up lemon pepper wings LOL

Sometimes yes, most times no. Not if it doesn't involve animal fat and grease.

I'm still amazed how I can eat various hot sauces with no incidents. Yet we have two Mexican restaurants of the same name and owner in two different cities. One closest to me provides the same menu, yet the food is perilously spicier for me with some very bad experiences. The other restaurant has rarely made me sick.

Though I know what it was that was the culprit: Shredded Beef. And I suspect it wasn't the spices per se, but rather the obvious. The fat content in shredded beef being far higher than in ground beef.

Unfortunately it leaves me with complicated decisions when eating out in any restaurant. I either roll the dice over a particular food or simply avoid it entirely. The latter being a smarter choice.

 

[Mary Terry]

The picture above is what I grew up with as bacon but in general Aussies started becoming a lot more health conscious from around the 80s. These days Short Cut bacon is popular and that's also the most common cut you'll find on our burgers, less fat.

View attachment 143971

The photo is of pork loin. American "bacon" comes from the belly fat or pork bellies. Canadian bacon also comes from the loin. I think the difference between American "streaky bacon" and Italian prosciutto is how it is cured. Italians dry-cure it. Americans tend to smoke-cure it so you get that smokey taste when you eat it.

Jeez, now I want some bacon.

 

[Mary Terry]

Here we made it law that the fast food places have to declare how many kilojoules of energy in each serving (average) on the menu. This helped make people more health conscious and it also started becoming a bit of a competition between different franchises. "Our food's healthier than theirs."

In having a look for an example for you I noticed that the big two US chains have just stopped doing that on their website, they'll get rapped over the knuckles for that soon enough. Their in store menus still tell you how much energy in each item.

This is Red Rooster's website, kilojoules displayed on each item in the menu. Rough conversion to calories - just divide by 4.

New - Red Rooster - Roast Chicken Takeaway and Delivery

The current US political administration just eliminated labeling requirements for many foods. America has long had mandatory food labeling requirements but apparently someone in Washington DC doesn't want us to know what we're eating. Some states, including my state of Mississippi, have starting enacting state laws to require labeling information about food served in this state. In fact, we recently got the results of a DNA sampling project on shrimp sold in my area. Unscrupulous sellers and restaurants falsely claim they're selling shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico when, in reality, it's who-knows-what kind of shrimp coming out of Asia. They do the same thing with fish. Thank goodness for DNA testing and publication of the names of those restaurants whose alleged "Gulf shrimp" are from somewhere in Asia. People will boycott those cheater restaurants.

 

[Jonn]

How do you like your burger?

 

[Jonn]

Add avocado, jalapenos and pastrami too. All good on a burger, IMO.

That is called a Subway in Sydney.

 

[Jonn]

Except tuna. Tuna is the best. I'll eat that.

Would you like a side of mercury with your tuna burger?

 

[Misery]

Would you like a side of mercury with your tuna burger?

I think this one went entirely over my head.

 

[Jonn]

I think this one went entirely over my head.

AI Overview

Yes, it is possible to experience mercury poisoning from eating too much tuna. Tuna, especially larger species, can contain significant levels of mercury, specifically methylmercury, which is toxic to humans. While most people consume tuna in moderation and don't experience issues, excessive consumption can lead to mercury poisoning

 

[Outdated]

In fact, we recently got the results of a DNA sampling project on shrimp sold in my area. Unscrupulous sellers and restaurants falsely claim they're selling shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico when, in reality, it's who-knows-what kind of shrimp coming out of Asia. They do the same thing with fish. Thank goodness for DNA testing and publication of the names of those restaurants whose alleged "Gulf shrimp" are from somewhere in Asia.

That's where US beef exporters fell foul of Australian import laws. We genetically test everything. Originally we banned US beef during the mad cow disease scare but around 2013 we allowed US imports provided that it was only US beef that they were selling. Immediately DNA samples showed beef from Canada and Mexico. Now we won't accept beef until they can prove provenance of their beef. We're not going to waste time testing every single batch every time for the rest of our lives, prove provenance or take your beef elsewhere.

 

[Mary Terry]

That's where US beef exporters fell foul of Australian import laws. We genetically test everything. Originally we banned US beef during the mad cow disease scare but around 2013 we allowed US imports provided that it was only US beef that they were selling. Immediately DNA samples showed beef from Canada and Mexico. Now we won't accept beef until they can prove provenance of their beef. We're not going to waste time testing every single batch every time for the rest of our lives, prove provenance or take your beef elsewhere.

The US imports Australian beef which is considered low quality due to its lack of fat. The Australian (and New Zealand) beef is ground up and added to the higher quality, fattier American grown beef to make the 80/20 blend of ground beef typically sold here. The current regime in Washington DC is threatening to stop importing Australian lower grade beef unless Australia agrees to import American beef. The US is considered to have a negligible risk of mad cow disease but Great Britian has had to slaughter all its cattle in the past to stop the disease from spreading further there. The governmental tariff squabbling continues.

 

[Outdated]

The US imports Australian beef which is considered low quality due to its lack of fat.

It's funny the way our people spin stories differently.

The US has to make it's burgers with at least 75% Australian beef because their own beef contains far too much fat. Without Aussie beef their burgers shrivel up to less than half their original size when cooked.

The current regime in Washington DC is threatening to stop importing Australian lower grade beef unless Australia agrees to import American beef.

They can threaten and yell and scream until they go black in the face, won't make any difference to us. They could ban all Australian imports overnight and it's not going to bother us very much.

We're one of the world's largest exporters of beef so selling beef to Aussies isn't an easy task. We also have a strong reputation as a stable trading partner, and we're known to have disease free meat, and we have full traceability records for every single cow we raise so customers know exactly what they're getting and never have to wonder if we're trying to slip inferior products in to our shipments. We have no trouble finding other markets for our beef, we have trouble keeping up with supply.

Another factor the current US administration fails to understand is that the US represents less than 5% of our total export market and less than 0.5% of our GDP. They're not an important customer to us, they don't even make it in to the top 10 of our export markets.

 

[Mary Terry]

It's funny the way our people spin stories differently.

The US has to make it's burgers with at least 75% Australian beef because their own beef contains far too much fat. Without Aussie beef their burgers shrivel up to less than half their original size when cooked.


They can threaten and yell and scream until they go black in the face, won't make any difference to us. They could ban all Australian imports overnight and it's not going to bother us very much.

We're one of the world's largest exporters of beef so selling beef to Aussies isn't an easy task. We also have a strong reputation as a stable trading partner, and we're known to have disease free meat, and we have full traceability records for every single cow we raise so customers know exactly what they're getting and never have to wonder if we're trying to slip inferior products in to our shipments. We have no trouble finding other markets for our beef, we have trouble keeping up with supply.

Another factor the current US administration fails to understand is that the US represents less than 5% of our total export market and less than 0.5% of our GDP. They're not an important customer to us, they don't even make it in to the top 10 of our export markets.get that Trump has an approval rating of about 40% and barely won the last election.

I don't where you're getting the Australian beef 75% contribution to 80/20 ground beef sold in the US. It's considerably lower than that. Many countries export their lean meats to the US and the US exports a lot of its high quality (i.e, fat) beef to other countries. Japanese fatty beef is highly prized by meat eaters. The US can produce as much "lean" beef as it wants by butchering pasture raised beef and foregoing the fattening-with-grain stage at industrial feedlots prior to butchering. Because cattle are sold by weight, the fatter the bovine, the more the rancher is paid. So importing cheaper, lean beef from Australia has actually helped American ranchers maintain their profits.

This whole tariff turmoil is prompting virtually every county to seek new trade partners. I despise it. Let the free market work without government interference.

 

[Outdated]

I don't where you're getting the Australian beef 75% contribution to 80/20 ground beef sold in the US.

I got that from a likely inaccurate youtube video by an American producer. The stats about Australia's exports are accurate according to our government.

 

[Judge]

I think one has to put some proper statistics into perspective relative to beef production by country regarding the global market, which is quite different from the percentage of imported beef into the US alone.

"The United States tops the list of the globally leading beef and veal producing countries: the country produced over 12.5 million tons of beef and veal (net carcass weight) as of 2024, followed by Brazil and China, respectively. That year, total production of beef and veal amounted to just above 60 million metric tons worldwide. The global cattle population has increased by 100 million in the past decade, and amounted to over 1.5 billion heads in 2023."

Topic: Beef market in the U.S.

I see conflicting numbers as to who is officially the number one exporter of beef to the US, depending on whose sources one uses. Australia or Canada....either way their impressive numbers may plummet in the face of a proposal of devastating tariffs if imposed by the US.

And I equally cringe for what the impact may ultimately be on all these fast food burger joints we take for granted. Especially those on weak ground due to financial concerns unrelated to the beef market alone.

Small wonder as an investor I always avoided commodities markets like the plague. -Too dynamic.

US Beef Imports from Australia in October Smash Records Cattle Range

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/lswimpe.pdf

 

[Outdated]

I see conflicting numbers as to who is officially the number one exporter of beef to the US, depending on whose sources one uses.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/lswimpe.pdf

I'd trust the official government data over a story that seems to be pulling information from over a decade ago. According to your government stats you buy a lot more beef from Canada than Australia. Something in that data sheet that stood out to me, we're one of your larger suppliers of beef offal.

 

[Metalhead]

I once heard an urban legend about a company named 100% Beef that does not sell 100% beef to McDonalds, that’s why they can claim their patties are 100% Beef. Urban legends are rarely true.

 

[Outdated]

I once heard an urban legend about a company named 100% Beef that does not sell 100% beef to McDonalds, that’s why they can claim their patties are 100% Beef. Urban legends are rarely true.

This part isn't urban legend but is genuine history in Australia from the early 90s - McDonalds fiercely advertised that their burgers were made with "100% All Australian Beef". They got taken to court over that and they lost and the fines were massive because they were only using beef imported from the United States.

Their beef supplier's company name was 100% All Australian Beef. Their beef supplier was also forced to either change it's name or cease operating in Australia.

 

[Metalhead]

This part isn't urban legend but is genuine history in Australia from the early 90s - McDonalds fiercely advertised that their burgers were made with "100% All Australian Beef". They got taken to court over that and they lost and the fines were massive because they were only using beef imported from the United States.

Their beef supplier's company name was 100% All Australian Beef. Their beef supplier was also forced to either change it's name or cease operating in Australia.

I kinda like how the story changed when transferred to middle school students in the USA.

 

[Judge]

McDonalds get cheers for the consistency of their burgers.

But jeers from me given a consistent taste that frankly I don't care for. Where so many Europeans have referred them as being "plasticky". I tend to agree. Good fries and milkshakes...but not their hamburgers.

 

[Metalhead]

McDonalds get cheers for the consistency of their burgers.

But jeers from me given a consistent taste that frankly I don't care for. Where so many Europeans have referred them as being "plasticky". I tend to agree. Good fries and milkshakes...but not their hamburgers.

I always would rather go to Taco Bell if I want to throw my diet into the gutter.