Ground beef - Definition

Ground beef, or, in British English beef mince, is a meat product, made of beef finely chopped by a meat grinder. Ground beef is sometimes referred to as hamburger meat or just hamburger because of one of its most popular uses is making the sandwich of that name.

In addition to hamburger sandwiches, ground beef features prominently also as an ingredient in meatloaf, sloppy joe, and in Mexican, Tex-Mex and Midwestern cuisine. It is also used in many other parts of the world. For example, the Italians use it to make meat sauces for, for example, lasagna and spaghetti bolognese; in the Middle East it is used to make spicy kofta and meatballs.

40% of U.S. ground beef is from dairy cattle that have outlived their usefulness and are, in many instances, too lame to stand (downer cows).