Monday, February 18, 2008
[safety] Is USDA's Beef Recall Hogwash, Bull or Neither?
The United States Department of Agriculture ratcheted up the heat on consumer safety issues by issuing a recall of 143 million pounds of beef from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. That organization supplies food distributors, including federal food programs, with ground beef.
As with many recalls, this one seems more about the timing than consumer safety. The USDA dumped this news on the American public during the Sunday of a 3 day holiday weekend. The agency conceded by Monday that "most" of the meat had likely already been eaten and that the
meat company had voluntarily ceased operations on February 1.
Consumers don't need a sundial to know that this issue was news at least 16 days ago, and one therefore becomes concerned about the timing and any potential motivation.
Perhaps the worst part of this scare headline is that
consumers have no way of knowing if tainted beef is in their freezer. We don't understand why the scare headlines were pushed out more than two weeks after the plant's closure and before a way of identifying retail purchases existed. What we do know is this that is a great tactic that buys everyone some time but still beats the wardrums of consumer safety.
Except in this case, consumers can do nothing to ensure their safety, if a threat even exists, because they can't identify any potentially contaminated food.
When news is made for the apparent sake of making news, one wonders about motivation. Wouldn't an announcement when the company voluntarily ceased operating almost three weeks ago have been appropriate? That's almost a month's worth of possible consumption allowed to go by when the company and the government knew there were potential safety issues.
We'll be addressing the issues surrounding the CPSC and Congressional attempts to legislate safety that seem oddly akin to the economic stimulus package, but for now, we'll just skip the burger for a turkey burger and wait to hear the all clear sign.
By our reckoning, that should be in May, just in time for a nice Memorial Day barbeque.
Labels: ground beef, recall, USDA
Saturday, November 03, 2007
*Food Recall - Critical* One Million Pounds Ground Beef Recalled
Food giant Cargill has
recalled one million pounds of ground beef that was shipped to 10 states, mostly in the East. The company says that the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a positive reading for
E. coli contamination in meat processed October 8. The company also says no illnesses have been linked to the meat, but after the painful lesson from Topps this fall, wasted no time in recalling the meat.
The affected states are in the East, but who knows how food can travel? Better to be safe than sorry. The link above lists the ground beef recalled by brand names. The meat was sold at multiple stores including Giant, Giant Eagle and Wegmans throughout the East.
Consumers with questions about the recall should call Cargill at 1-877-455-103
Labels: Cargill, food, ground beef, recall, safety
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Gound Beef Recall Swells To 21 Million Pounds
Just as we were set to warn consumers about a mid-sized food recall, Topps Meat Company today announced that their
ground beef recall has affected millions of pounds of the food.
According to the company and federal government, more than 21 million pounds of ground beef are at risk for carrying a bad form of E. coli, a disease that impacts many but can cause death in children, the elderly or those with other health problems.
This ground beef already bears a U.S. Department of Agriculture brand. Do not eat this food.
The USDA division charged with monitoring this food said today that they are investigating more than two dozen illnesses in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The frozen meat was produced on various dates between Sept. 25, 2006, and Sept. 25, 2007. The food was throughout the NY area and then to states throughout the East and Midwest. Each package bears the establishment number “Est. 9748” inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as a sell-by date between “SEP 25 07” and “SEP 25 08.”
Brand names include Topps, West Side, Shop Rite and Roma among others.
Call toll-free to 888-734-0451 with questions about the recall.
Labels: food, ground beef, recall, safety, Topps
