One Hamburger Contains the Meat of How Many Cows?

One hamburger contains the meat of up to approximately 100 cows. This is due to how ground beef is processed: cuts of beef that are not desired to be used in their whole state for steaks or roasts, for example, are gathered and ground up in a tenderizer. This compilation of scraps makes it likely that a package of ground beef may contain meat from many cows. The cheapest varieties of ground beef are often used for low cost hamburgers for fast food restaurants and will generally be the most likely to contain the highest number of less desirable scraps of beef from 100 cows or so.

More about ground beef:

• Americans consume approximately 14 billion hamburgers every year and 80% of households eat beef at least once every two weeks.
• French fries are the most common side dish to accompany hamburgers. An estimated 31% of all burgers are served with a side of fries, followed by chips at 13%.
• Ground beef is the most popular form of beef, comprising over half of all beef sales.