Anything that they can fit into the hopper goes straight into your ground
meats. That goes for dirt, rodent droppings, scrapped fat and meat from the
bottom of the cutters' boots,  etc. They will grind pork, chicken and beef
in the same hopper without tearing it down and sanitizing it first. Just
because there isn't any chicken or pork in the hopper at the time doesn't
mean anything. The spiral gear, blade, and screen all need to be removed and
cleaned independently of each other and then the hopper washed out and
sanitized before grinding a different meat. 90% of the time, this doesn't
happen they will remove any visual residue from the hopper and then start
grinding say in this example, beef right after grinding chicken, turkey, or
pork. I think 20/20 did a big story on this a few years ago. Maybe it was 48
Hours? BWAHAHAHAHA! It was one of those news sitcoms. Did you know that I do
not like the press?

It was causing a lot of people to get sick and I believe a few may have even
died from it. Unfortunately, they only showed a part of the real dangers
when it comes to grinding. Mixing the meats is a concern, yes but so is the
other "ingredients" that get added when no one is looking. Yes these places
are inspected by Monsanto...uh I mean the ATF...uh the FDA. I don't remember
the exact specifications but slaughter houses are allowed to have so much
contamination like rodent droppings and the like per million parts I
believe. I was never heavily involved in the FDA inspections but I did clean
up the cutting room for the inspections. I've seen cigarette ashes flicked
into grinders, dirt and scrapped up meat/fat off the floor swept up and
dumped into the hopper. People bringing back supposed bad roasts, steaks,
etc., would be given a refund or exchanged and then the cutter would scrape
the outside of the meat and then toss it into the grinder. Be very wary pre
made ground beef. If your local supermarket has a meat dept. with  their own
cutting room and grinder, you can ask that they tear the grinder down and
sanitize it before grinding your meat. Usually they won't give you much of a
hassle, if they do talk to the manager. The supermarket meat cutters aren't
as bad as the slaughter houses, though I'm sure that some still add
"ingredients" when no one is looking. If you don't make them tear the
grinder down, you risk mixing your beef with chicken, pork, or any other
meats that were previously ground that day. If you're planning on having
something ground say beef for instance, try asking the butcher if they've
ground anything other than beef that morning. Do it sneaky like, ask them if
they have any fresh ground pork or chicken, turkey, etc., like you're really
sincere in wanting fresh ground whatever. Then after they respond you can
have them clean the grinder and grind your meat, it's the safest way.