Contaminated ground beef is the largest source of E. coli O157:H7 infection in the United States and more often than not the recalls and associated outbreaks of illness flare up in the spring and summer — when warmer temperatures boost colonization of the microbes.
But here it is on Halloween and in the past three weeks or so there have been four separate recalls of ground beef and other beef products due to possible adulteration from E. coli O157:H7. The last two recalls have been associated with outbreaks of E. coli illness in New England — specifically Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The spate of problems with ground beef is further proof that the U.S. isn’t making progress in keeping this pathogen out of our food. In fact, there has been a couple of years of backsliding.
The biggest of the four ground beef E. coli recalls in October was announced early this morning by the USDA and Ashville, New York,-based Fairbanks Farms. A whopping total of 545,699 pounds of fresh ground beef produced by Fairbanks in mid-September was recalled after the product was associated with a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 infections in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine.
The ground beef products were sold through meat cases at Trader Joe’s, Shaw’s, Lancaster and Wild Harvest, BJ’s, Ford Brothers and Giant under individual store labels. Consumers should look for USDA establishment number EST 492 inside the USDA mark of inspection, regardless of where it was sold. The recalled ground beef has sell-by dates ranging from Sept. 19-28 and a few products have sell-by dates in early October. Click here and scroll down to see the complete recall list.
Earlier in the week, Crocetti’s Oakdale Packing Co. doing business as South Shore Meats Inc. recalled 1,039 pounds of ground beef patties and bulk ground beef tied to an outbreak of E. coli among Rhode Island Lincoln Middle School sixth graders. The students were served a hamburger meal at Camp Bournedale, a nature camp in Plymouth, Massacusetts. More than 20 kids and chaperones were injured in that outbreak, including at least two who were hospitalized.
Prior to the Lincoln Middle School E. coli outbreak, San Diego Meat Co. in California recalled 925 pounds of ground beef patties and bulk ground beef sold to restaurants. Around the same time, Culebra Meat Market of Texas recalled 4,000 pounds of carne asada, stew meat and ground beef that had been sold to regional restaurants after tests detected E. coli O157:H7 in samples.
Federal lawmakers who are once again beating the drum for food safety won’t have to look back much further than the month of October to know that the existing ban against E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef is not enough to prevent life-threatening food poisoning. The House already has passed a reform bill this year and the Senate is currently in the process of formulating its own bill. A frightful month of October should help the cause.
To contact national food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker, call him at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or email him at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com. Mr. Pritzker currently represents E. coli HUS victims and continues to be involved on the side of consumers in practically every major E. coli outbreak in the U.S.
