A typical label includes safe cooking instructions. This label on blade-tenderized beef sold at Costco recommends 160 degrees as the minimum internal temperature, which doesn’t require a three-minute rest time.
Lydia Zuraw/KHN for NPR
A new label on some of the steaks in your grocery store highlights a production process you may never have heard of: mechanical tenderizing.
This means the beef has been punctured with blades or needles to break down the muscle fibers and make it easier to chew. But it also means the meat has a greater chance of being contaminated and making you sick.
The labels are a requirement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that went into effect this week.
“Blade tenderized,” that label might read, followed by safe cooking instruc…