If someone told you that a hamburger could be the riskiest menu item at the next restaurant you go to, it would probably sound alarmist. Escherichia coliform (that's E. coli for the rest of us) is staying in the media, so it's not quite as crazy as it appears. Turns out less than a half of one percent of beef is even tested for the bacteria.

With hundreds of varieties of E. coli, not all of them are harmful. As this article states, estimates suggest that we excrete 10 billion E. coli bacteria every time we go to the bathroom. So what's there to worry about? Well, beef is placed into boxes by the ton before getting processed.

That's 2,000 pounds of pre-hamburger meat. But less than a pound of meat per ton gets analyzed for bacteria! If the tiny amount they tested checks out A-OK, then so does the rest of it. Thousands of pounds of meat get processed this way every day, leaving some people to believe it can be risky. Should you give up burgers altogether now? No way, while the article does raise some questions, you can take steps to ensure you get the safe products. Check it out for more information here.