Another meat recall.

[andybob]

Company Recalls 21.7 Million Pounds of Beef
WASHINGTON – Topps Meat Company, LLC, an Elizabeth, NJ, establishment, is voluntarily expanding its Sept. 25 recall to include a total of approximately 21.7 million pounds of frozen ground beef products because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.



E.Coli

The recall is being expanded based on an additional positive product sample reported by the New York Health Department, reported illnesses and findings from a food safety assessment conducted by FSIS at the establishment.

There are currently 25 illnesses under investigation in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. An investigation carried out by the New York Department of Health in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, preceded the recall of Sept. 25.

Frozen products still in commerce with an unexpired sell-by date are subject to this recall expansion. The company applies a one-year sell-by date to their frozen products. For best quality, FSIS recommends consumers use any frozen ground beef products within three to four months of the stated sell-by date. It is important that consumers look for the recalled products and return them if found in their freezers.

The frozen ground beef products were produced on various dates between Sept. 25, 2006, and Sept. 25, 2007, and were distributed to food service institutions in the New York metropolitan area and to retail establishments nationwide.


TheCattleSite News Desk


These recalls are all too frequent, and damaging to the industry, the structures to controll the spread of E-Coli and Salmonella have been in place for over 30 years, yet it is still rare to find meat inspectors and technologists advising, monitoring and controlling the hygiene in these facilities.

 

[Maple Leaf Angus]

That's a lot of cattle.

 

[Jason]

I read an article where many folks think it is good there are recalls like this.

To them it shows someone is watching and is protecting them.

It makes them confident that the system in place works.

 

[Mike]

I read an article where many folks think it is good there are recalls like this.

To them it shows someone is watching and is protecting them.

It makes them confident that the system in place works.

They are complete idiots then. And if you believe that article, so are you!

Recalls most every time happen after people get sick. Since there are no mandatory recalls, and the packers get to choose when and where E-Coli tests are performed, these recalls are horrible for beef demand.

 

[andybob]

I read an article where many folks think it is good there are recalls like this.

To them it shows someone is watching and is protecting them.

It makes them confident that the system in place works.

My point is that we have the framework in place to prvent this scale of contamination from happening, but penny pinching companies refuse to pay the costs of hygiene quality controll (exept the minimum required by law), and so these damaging recalls continue to happen, at a greater cost than the prevention would have been. Corporate thinking does not work in livestock management or the meat industry.

 

[Jason]

Some expensive controls implimented have actually been the problem.

I have read where steam cleaning equipment actually just spread the e-coli contaminant all over the plant instead of eliminating it.

Good old fashioned bleach and hand washing proved more effective than the thousands spent on the "new and improved" system.

With labor becoming an issue, it is difficult to get cleaners.

The size of the recall isn't the true amount contaminated, but rather the potential amount taht could possibly be contaminated.

True that some companies can't see the savings, but no one wants the costs of contaminated beef. New methods are being tested al the time.

 

[PPRM]

Some expensive controls implimented have actually been the problem.

I have read where steam cleaning equipment actually just spread the e-coli contaminant all over the plant instead of eliminating it.

Good old fashioned bleach and hand washing proved more effective than the thousands spent on the "new and improved" system.

With labor becoming an issue, it is difficult to get cleaners.

The size of the recall isn't the true amount contaminated, but rather the potential amount taht could possibly be contaminated.

True that some companies can't see the savings, but no one wants the costs of contaminated beef. New methods are being tested al the time.

Steam Cleaning as an Expensive Control? I call BS on this. The motivation for Steam Cleaning was a way to do High Volume Cheaper. I saw this when i wored for a man with a packing house,

PPRM

 

[Jason]

I merely used the steam as one example. It was mentioned in an article and apperantly it took the e-coli and made it airborne, landing everywhere.

Current practice is to clean the entire area each day after shift. If the lines had to be shut down durng a shift, costs would be huge.

A couple neighbor kids work at a pork plant, and they tell of playing games with the pork parts...how long can they get away with dropping a piece on the floor and putting it back on the line. If the are caught they get reprimanded, but they think it is fun.

2 lead hands got busted fo leaving the plant because they got set up done in 2 hours instead of 4, but the plant was so short handed that only 1 at a time could get the suspension. These are 20 yr old kids making $18 bucks an hour.

Back to e-coli, considering the huge amount of beef processed, the recalls are relatively small. I never give it a second thought with my own animals, I have never heard the processor talk about even being tested. They just are very clean, have well maintained facilities and more mature people work where I go.

 

[andybob]

We used an effective system about 30 years ago both on the slaughter floor and the boning/packing rooms. The system was called peristaltic cleaning, the slaughter team would take their mid-morning break, the cleaning team would then spray foam cleaner with fat dissolving chemicals over the area, and wash off the foam with hot water pressure hoses, as the gap made by the break moved through the factory, workers would take their break and the cleaning team moved in, this was repeated at lunch time, and on extended shifts, in mid afternoon. The end of day cleanup was done by all the staff, after which we took surface and drain swabs to see if any bacteria could be cultured. All equipment eg hooks on the slaughter rail, were run through a vat of boiling water containing caustic soda. Fresh meat cuts were processed in batches and no cross contamination was permitted, this way if swabs from a batch showed up a bacterial contamination, only that batch was detained for ferther inspection. Our export market was too valuable to take any risks,so there was never a single incidence of bacterial contamination detected by the health authorities in the importing countries.