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  • WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2007 4:00 PM

Beef Recalls, E Coli, and the USDA

Submitted by Rahodeb

Edited by Rahodeb



Is it me, or is recalling massive amounts of E. coli-laced ground beef the new black? Back in September, Topps Meat Company issued the second largest meat recall in U.S. history: 27.1 million pounds of ground beef products. The economic impact on the company was so great that they were forced to file for bankruptcy and shut down operations. After 67 years of business, Topps closed its doors.

Now, just two months later, American Foods Group is voluntarily recalling "approximately 95,927 pounds of various coarse and fine ground beef products because they may be contaminated with E. coli."

The ground beef products subject to recall were produced on Oct. 10 and were distributed to retail establishments and distributors in Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia.

The problem was discovered through an investigation into two illnesses that was initiated by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a physician.

Each shipping label bears the establishment number "Est. 18076" inside the USDA mark of inspection.

For those who don't know (or who just enjoy the morbidly scatological) E. coli infection often causes bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and occasionally even leads to kidney failure. Most cases are associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. With that in mind, the USDA allows that "presumptively positive ground beef and beef trimmings that have failed to be “non-negative” for E. coli O157:H7 be sent for further processing—which includes cooking to the thermal death stage for all pathogens." Wait, what?

Therefore, permitting a company that suspects or, in fact, knows that a lot of ground beef or beef trimmings has or may contain E. coli O157:H7 to be able to sell it with appropriate security (at a significant discount) to a different segment of the industry that is under USDA inspection and scrutiny to properly process this product into a ready-to-eat product not only makes perfect sense microbiologically, but it has zero impact on the public’s health.

Ohh, cool. So basically, the USDA is saying it's "A OK" to knowingly sell contaminated beef, because it'll probably be "processed" in such a way that renders it safe. Clearly that works like a charm.

It seems to me that leaving it up to processors and consumers to "cook the product thoroughly to 160oF minimally" is a cop out and a big risk--not only in regards to the health of customers, but in an economical sense. Perhaps if USDA restrictions had been tighter, Topps would have avoided the recall that did them in, and maybe even halted production of the year's worth of beef that went to waste.

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Comments
Crissis

Crissis

Ecuador
January 2007

NOV 28, 2007 04:20 PM

maybe i should stop eating meat!!!


mmm...
never!! ARRR!!!

Formus

Formus

Milwaukee, WI
May 2007

NOV 28, 2007 04:32 PM

Crissis said:
maybe i should stop eating meat!!!


mmm...
never!! ARRR!!!



You. Me. Babies. Now.

StarBelliedBoy

StarBelliedBoy

Philadelphia, PA
December 2003

NOV 28, 2007 04:34 PM

Oh god, I cry for the loss of Topp's... Maaaan, if you can't survive a little e-coli, how will you survive war with aliens/robots/terrorists? We need to weed out the weak SOMEhow!

Poppy

Poppy

SUICIDEGIRL

Massachusetts, USA

NOV 28, 2007 05:03 PM

i think im going to be sick

xazapdmytinu

xazapdmytinu

Fort Collins, CO
July 2007

NOV 28, 2007 05:07 PM

<Stops eating undercooked American Foods beef off off his mattel winnie the pooh plate>


Huh? don't bother me, I'm eating.

puke What's with all the high profile recalls? I mean, any given month theres a recal for something but the past six months have been massive recalls

richkale

richkale

Collingswood, NJ
September 2007

NOV 28, 2007 05:26 PM

StarBelliedBoy said:
Oh god, I cry for the loss of Topp's... Maaaan, if you can't survive a little e-coli, how will you survive war with aliens/robots/terrorists? We need to weed out the weak SOMEhow!



At least they've got all that baseball card business to fall back on.

Saraah

Saraah

Los Angeles, CA
March 2007

NOV 28, 2007 05:47 PM

1) The two biggest E. Coli outbreaks in the last two years have been from spinach and green onions, respectively. So not eating meat won't help.

2) The packaging on the meat sold as potentially E. Coli contaminated clearly says "cook only". I'm honestly not sure how much more the USDA/FDA can or SHOULD do. And this is coming from a card-carrying, Purell-carrying, hypochondriacal nutjob (hi fellow nutjobs!).

I mean, I miss rare burgers as much as the next lady, but its unreasonable to think that we are going to eradicate E. Coli from the environment entirely, and throwing out millions of pounds of perfectly good food because there is an easily-killable, common bacteria on it seems foolish, no?

StarBelliedBoy

StarBelliedBoy

Philadelphia, PA
December 2003

NOV 28, 2007 05:56 PM

I mean, seriously, think about all the resources wasted to raise that cattle and all the people that meat could've fed.

Chainlink

Chainlink

Key West, FL
August 2005

NOV 28, 2007 06:08 PM

Saraah said:
1) The two biggest E. Coli outbreaks in the last two years have been from spinach and green onions, respectively. So not eating meat won't help.

2) The packaging on the meat sold as potentially E. Coli contaminated clearly says "cook only". I'm honestly not sure how much more the USDA/FDA can or SHOULD do. And this is coming from a card-carrying, Purell-carrying, hypochondriacal nutjob (hi fellow nutjobs!).

I mean, I miss rare burgers as much as the next lady, but its unreasonable to think that we are going to eradicate E. Coli from the environment entirely, and throwing out millions of pounds of perfectly good food because there is an easily-killable, common bacteria on it seems foolish, no?



Agreed.

Thank you.

statius

statius

Brooklyn, NY
January 2004

NOV 28, 2007 06:43 PM

good editorial Rahodeb. thank you.

my guess is that a lot of the e. coli infected cows has to do with their diet. cows are fed lots of corn because the us has so much corn they don't know what to do with it. since a cow's rumen probably evolved to do things like digest cellulose like grass, the bacterial flora of a cow rumen might change because of the different conditions under a corn diet. maybe this leads to an increase in e. coli o157:h7-infected cows?

that's just my hypothesis...could totally be way off-mark.

also, i think health departments may be more sensitive to detect these types of food-borne outbreaks (be it spinach, beef, frozen pies, etc) in addition to an increase in the types of outbreaks.

and no, i haven't read the omnivore's dilemma.

TidalTantrum

TidalTantrum

Geary, NB
February 2007

NOV 28, 2007 06:54 PM

Chainlink said:

Saraah said:
1) The two biggest E. Coli outbreaks in the last two years have been from spinach and green onions, respectively. So not eating meat won't help.

2) The packaging on the meat sold as potentially E. Coli contaminated clearly says "cook only". I'm honestly not sure how much more the USDA/FDA can or SHOULD do. And this is coming from a card-carrying, Purell-carrying, hypochondriacal nutjob (hi fellow nutjobs!).

I mean, I miss rare burgers as much as the next lady, but its unreasonable to think that we are going to eradicate E. Coli from the environment entirely, and throwing out millions of pounds of perfectly good food because there is an easily-killable, common bacteria on it seems foolish, no?



Agreed.

Thank you.





Yeah, as long as we cook the meat filled with feces long enough, its perfectly edible.

Chainlink

Chainlink

Key West, FL
August 2005

NOV 28, 2007 06:56 PM

statius said:
good editorial Rahodeb. thank you.

my guess is that a lot of the e. coli infected cows has to do with their diet. cows are fed lots of corn because the us has so much corn they don't know what to do with it. since a cow's rumen probably evolved to do things like digest cellulose like grass, the bacterial flora of a cow rumen might change because of the different conditions under a corn diet. maybe this leads to an increase in e. coli o157:h7-infected cows?

that's just my hypothesis...could totally be way off-mark.
.



. . . could beeee confused

Chainlink

Chainlink

Key West, FL
August 2005

NOV 28, 2007 06:59 PM

TidalTantrum said:

Chainlink said:

Saraah said:
1) The two biggest E. Coli outbreaks in the last two years have been from spinach and green onions, respectively. So not eating meat won't help.

2) The packaging on the meat sold as potentially E. Coli contaminated clearly says "cook only". I'm honestly not sure how much more the USDA/FDA can or SHOULD do. And this is coming from a card-carrying, Purell-carrying, hypochondriacal nutjob (hi fellow nutjobs!).

I mean, I miss rare burgers as much as the next lady, but its unreasonable to think that we are going to eradicate E. Coli from the environment entirely, and throwing out millions of pounds of perfectly good food because there is an easily-killable, common bacteria on it seems foolish, no?



Agreed.

Thank you.





Yeah, as long as we cook the meat filled with feces long enough, its perfectly edible.



Yup, and as long as you wash your veggies that are hosed with " natural fertilizer" really well you won't be licking bits of cow ass off your salad either.

MrCrisp

MrCrisp

I'm lost
August 2004

NOV 28, 2007 07:03 PM

Chainlink said:

Yup, and as long as you wash your veggies that are hosed with " natural fertilizer" you won't be licking bits of cow ass of your salad either.



isn't that defeating the purpose, though? i mean, i don't order cow ass salad for the laughs.

Stiles

Stiles

Oakland, CA
November 2002

NOV 28, 2007 07:04 PM

The nature of the business dictates that the majority of meat recalled by Topp's was already sold, cooked and consumed before the recall was announced. They aren't getting back anywhere near 27 million pounds of product - supermarkets sell a lot of frozen burgers and rotate stock regularly to minimize spoiled product and inventory levels and maximize shelf turnover and profit. The company filed for bankruptcy as an anti-lawsuit tactic most likely; I'd be surprised if it didn't come back under another name in the same buildings, sooner rather than later.

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