Where's the beef?

I heard about this story today, which is a warning to Texans about buying meat from parking lots or roadside sales because a truckful of contaminated ground beef was stolen.

OK, so someone stole a truck. Did they know there was ground beef inside or were they just trying to steal a truck or did they think something else was inside the truck? OK, maybe there's no way for them to know that the beef is contaminated - not sure if there's any labeling or signage or whatever. Maybe they decide to have a cookout and invite the several adjacent neighborhoods, and you have an epidemic of really sick people.

But I'm wondering about the whole "warning people not to buy meat from the roadside or a parking lot because they might be selling contaminated beef". Ummm, ok. Exactly who is it that buys MEAT from some random stranger standing on the corner or from the back of his pickup truck in a parking lot? I know there are people who have very, very tight budgets, and they need to save however they can. OK, so you shop at a discount grocery store or something like that where the meat might not be the BEST quality, but it's still most likely not going to make you sick or kill you. But a streetcorner? A parking lot? Even if you have kids to feed on almost no money, do you risk their health this way?

I personally don't buy anything from streetcorner vendors for a number of reasons, the main one being that I have no idea where the produce/whatever is coming from or what's been done to it. Maybe nothing. Maybe it's perfectly good, just cheaper than at the local grocery store. But I'm not willing to take a chance. OK, oranges have to be peeled, and peanuts have to be shelled, but they can still be tampered with, or they could be just gross quality. I could *almost* see buying flowers since there's less of a chance it could hurt or kill someone, but I still wouldn't do it.

I've never seen anyone trying to sell meat from a streetcorner. Some of the street vendors have their stuff sitting out in the sun, and I can imagine that the fruit melts and wilts and whatever. Some try to be in the shade, but that's not always an option. But meat? Unrefrigerated? Although, even if they pulled it out of a roadside cooler, that't not going to make me want to buy it any more than if it wasn't.

Is this something particular to Texas? I know it's a serious meat state, but I thought they also prided themselves on their beef.

If you're invited to a New Year's celebration barbeque in Texas - just have salad.