Packaged beef burgers and tartare contain not only meat, water and salt, but almost always a number of other ingredients and food additives.
TheGreat Italian Food Trade (GIFT) market survey examines the labels of 39 products on the shelf as of September 2023. Branded and private label industries, obviously including discount stores.
Hamburger and beef tartare, the parameters of comparison
The characteristics identified to evaluate burger quality and compare products are:
- quantity of the meat and other ingredients,
- energy value (kcal), saturated fat and salt per 100 g of product,
- origin of meat,
- Transparency of consumer information,
- Price per kg and quantity of product in the package.
How much meat in the packaged hamburger?
Not qualified in the comparison by meat content two products:
– ‘The burger that was missing’ from ‘The Ambrosini Family,’ with 56.5 percent meat.
One clarification. The company wrote to us complaining about the inclusion of this product in the comparison, explaining that ‘As is evident from the name of the product, its distinguishing feature is that it is a Meat Burger with vegetables (carrots and zucchini).’ And claiming to produce several other burgers with high meat percentages (86 to 95 percent). In our market surveys, however, we take the consumer’s point of view. In this case, we considered each product defined on the label as ‘hamburger’. The one selected is the only Ambrosini we found on the shelf, while on the operator’s website for other products there is no way to know ingredient list or nutritional table.
– ‘Hamburger with veal’ branded ‘I Teneroni di Casa Modena’ that contains just 41 percent meat, with the problematic preservative E250 (sodium nitrite) added, among other things.
Silver and bronze medals go to Esselunga, with its organic hamburger (99 percent meat) and some others where meat expresses 97 percent of the ingredients, which include potato starch and flavorings and/or additives. This is followed by the other brands, in a gradual decline in the amount of meat that reaches 72 percent in Carrefour’s hamburger with bacon (and nitrites).
The only burger made with only meat (95 percent), water and salt-with no other ingredients or additives-is La Granda’s Giotto, 100 percent Piedmontese. Not surprisingly, one of the icons of Eataly’s butcher department, organized by La Granda itself, unfortunately not yet available elsewhere except online.
The other ingredients
Meat is partly replaced with ‘filler’ ingredients of lesser value or otherwise with technological functions:
– potatoes, present in most of the products examined in the form of starch, starch or flakes (in some cases with mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids of indefinite origin, palm oil or animal fats),
– fiber of various kinds (legumes, bamboo, citrus, chicory), vegetables and various sugars (sucrose, dextrose, fructose), beet powder.
Cheeses (Grana Padano dop, Parmigiano Reggiano dop, Pecorino Romano dop) are added in some pastes, pork and pork products (bacon, speck, with nitrites) in others. Watch out for allergens, not only milk but also egg in the case of Grana cheese, and saturated fat in the case of cold cuts.
Nutritional profiles
Nutritional profiles deserve special attention, since the values expressed in the tables) refer to 100 g of product while the burgers that are going for the most weigh 180 g, even 250 g in the maxi versions. We focus on four distinctive elements:
Calories. The energy value (kcal) varies considerably–from 91 to 236 kcal/100 g–depending on the type of meat, more or less fat, and the added ingredients.
Saturated fats. In the 39 products examined, the percentage of saturated fat varied widely. They range from a low of 0.9 percent, – in La Granda’s Giotto burger – to a high of 9.2 percent in Carrefour’s 150g organic burger. The latter of which thus contributes 13.8g of saturated fat, or 69% of the average daily reference consumption for an adult. (1)
Salt. Excess salt in the daily diet is directly associated with the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, as well as increasing the risk of contracting numerous diseases, including diabetes and cancer. (2) In the sample examined, the most virtuous example is once again provided by Esselunga, with 0.35g of salt/100g in its 220g maxi burger made of meat from Piedmontese beef and Parmigiano Reggiano. In a few other cases the salt is less than 1 g/kg.
Protein. The protein share in turn varies significantly, from the paltry 10 of ‘The Burger That Missed’ (with just 56.5 percent meat) to 22.1 percent of Esselunga’s Piedmontese maxi burger.
Food additives. Nitrites in 3 hamburgers and 5 tartares
Among the food additives added in hamburgers, two deserve special attention:
E250, sodium nitrite. Consumption of this preservative, typically added in cured meats, is correlated with an increased risk of colon cancer. A recent scientific study (Crowe et al., 2022) published in Science of Food (a partner of Nature) points out that consumption of nitrite- and nitrate-containing processed meats is a trigger for colorectal cancer. (3)
Nitrites are present in 3 hamburgers and 5 tartare:
– Bacon burgers from Carrefour,
– Hamburger with veal Teneroni from Casa Modena,
– Hamburger of rump steak with bacon. Conad Flavors & Ideas,
– Fiorfiore Coop adult beef tartare,
– Fiorani’s adult beef tartare,
– Beef tartare. The hill of goodness. Eurospin,
– Chianina tartare from the Sandri Salumificio
– Maremma meat tartare from Salumificio Sandri,
Conversely, no risks are seen in the other additives detected in the various burgers and tartare tested: E325 – Sodium lactate, E262 – Sodium acetate, E301 – Sodium ascorbate, E300 – Ascorbic acid.
What breeds of meat?
Adult cattle. Age above 12 months. Without further specification, this type of meat is found in 12 out of 39 burgers and tartares examined.
Calf. Young cattle, slaughtered before 8 months of age, appear only in Casa Vercelli’s hamburger.
Scottona. Adult female cattle that have never calved are the main ingredient of 8 products.
Mixtures. Some mix different meats. Veal and pork in Teneroni Casa Modena. Beef, veal and pork in the Big Caesar of the Art Opera
Beef breeds are often boasted in the elegant vacuum packs (skin packs) on black cardboard. Piemontese, Chianina, Marchigiana and Romagnola, the last three harvested under the specification of Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP. These are cattle, both male and female, aged between 12 and 24 months, born and raised in the geographical area specified in the specification, which runs from Ravenna to Caserta. (4) A single specimen of Angus, a breed native to Scotland, bred all over the world.
Children of unknown mother, the mystery of origin
Indication of meat origin is not mandatory for hamburgers, as they are ‘meat preparations’. More than half of the labels contain geographic references on a voluntary basis, reflecting transparency that nevertheless has areas for improvement. Some examples:
– the wording ‘Italian burger’ with tricolor of The Big Caesar Hamburger from The Artwork is not accompanied by confirmation of the identity of the country of birth, breeding and slaughter,
– the Angus burger label, in referring to a breed native to Scotland but ‘exported and bred all over the world,’ does not reveal which corner of the world the meat used comes from,
– the ‘Italian beef’ mentioned by LIDL in the label of its burger is partial, not specifying the animals’ place of birth,
– Carrefour’s organic hamburger is presented as ‘from Italian farms,’ but the origin of the meat, on the label qualified with EU organic certification, is not specified
– the tricolor on the label and the claim ‘beef from Italian farms’ do not reveal the origin of the meat,
– Conad’s hamburger composed of a mix of PGI Vitellone bianco dell’Appennino Centrale (certainly 100 percent Italian) and ‘adult Chianina’ makes one suspect the use of imported meat as well.
LIDL’s calf escaped from the PGI.
A surprising case concerns the pedigree meat proposed by LIDL. Marche, Chianina and Piedmontese breeds. Indication of origin absent, no clarification of whether it belongs to the Vitellone dell’Appennino Centrale IGP circuit.
GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade) tried in vain to contact LIDL Italy to ask for an explanation. Unanswered emails, voicemail to the press office, customer support lacking the required information.
Instead, the solution to the enigma comes, in no uncertain terms, from Andrea Petrini, director of Consorzio di Tutela Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP, whom we questioned about LIDL’s ‘Marche meat’ label:
‘No permission was requested (by LIDL, ed.) to use the protected name and/or logo on the label. (…) The only thing that the label communicates to us is that we are talking about a hamburger of marchigiana, but this does not guarantee us either the category of the animal (whether it is meat from a 16-month-old or a 16-year-old bovine), its provenance (whether it was born and/or raised in Italy or anywhere else in the world), or the characteristics of the meat (in terms of chemical and physical parameters)‘.
The Piedmontese incognito
A similar case concerns ‘Piedmontese breed’ meat, which boasts a genealogical list where all animals are registered, but not also a protected designation of origin. Both LIDL and Casa Vercelli mention it on the label of their burgers but do not specify its origin.
The hypothesis that in cases without an indication of origin it is a Piedmontese breed bred abroad-as in the case of non-PGI Vitellone-does not convince Guido Garnero of Anaborapi, the association of breeders of these prized cattle. ‘The numbers abroad are small. There is something in Germany, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland. But there is a very large slaughterhouse in Vercelli. That’s where the Piedmont bulls go at the end of their careers‘.
For those who want to think wrong, however, there is no shortage of clues. Starting with the deafening silence of the two operators we surveyed. One, LIDL, which is German-owned. The other, Casa Vercelli, with the two lines ‘100% Italian veal’ and ‘The selection of Casa Vercelli’ where the origin is not specified.
B&B Maremma
The last unclear case concerns Salumificio Sandri, which in its Maremma meat burger does not specify the origin of the cattle.
The doubt is soon resolved. ‘The country of birth and breeding does not matter. It is enough for the animal to be in Maremma for 4 months for it to be defined as ‘Maremma meat,’ explains the salumificio’s quality office.
Organic shortage and no antibiotics
Our market survey showed a worrying shortage of organic hamburgers. Only Esselunga, Carrefour and NaturaSì offer any.
‘Antibiotic-free’ from the weaning of animals is a guarantee offered on only some Coop products.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Food Information Regulation (EU) No 1169/11, Annex XIII, Part B. Reference intakes of energy elements and certain nutrients other than vitamins and minerals (adults)
(2) Marta Strinati. WHO report cards on national policies to reduce salt consumption. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 22.3.23
(3) Marta Strinati. Nitrites in processed meats and colorectal cancer risk, new evidence. 4.1.23 GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade)
(4) Disciplinary Specifications Vitellone bianco dell’Appennino centrale IGP. Protection Consortium https://www.vitellonebianco.it/download/disciplinari/
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
