Less visible but just as menacing throughout the year was the drum beat of human infection caused by E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef. According to a review of federal records by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, more than 1 million pounds of ground beef and beef cuts intended for grinding were recalled from market this year by USDA-inspected slaughter plants and processors. The largest of the 15 recalls covered 545,699 pounds of ground beef produced this fall by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y. It was associated with two deaths and 19 hospitalizations.

Multi-state E. coli outbreaks associated with these recalls killed at least three people all together and sickened at least 80, according to the records. The outbreaks resulted in at least 34 hospitalizations and eight confirmed cases of life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disease especially dangerous to children that causes kidney failure and many other serious health conditions.

Since January 2007, the industry has initiated at least 52 recalls of beef tainted with E. coli O157:H7 compared with 20 in the three previous years, according to the New York Times.

“This data points to the need for sweeping change in the way food safety is regulated in this country,” said Fred Pritzker, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen. “While I agree we cannot ‘test’ our way out of this situation, the current regulatory schemes incentivize producers not to test their product. This is wrong and dangerous and needs to changed.”

The U.S. House in late July approved food safety legislation that would give sweeping new authority to the Food and Drug Administration. If a similar bill is passed by the Senate next year, President Obama would approve the first major changes to food-safety laws in 70 years. Judging from the food poisoning record of 2009, the changes are desperately needed.

The Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak caused by the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America sprouted in late 2008, but it spilled over into 2009 with a cascading list of product recalls and burgeoning reports of people who had become seriously ill.

On April 29, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its final report on the outbreak: Nine deaths, 714 confirmed illnesses in 46 states and more than 170 people hospitalized. Because Peanut Corp. was an indirect supplier of peanuts to all different kinds of food makers, the CDC estimated that more than 2,833 peanut-containing products may have been made with the ingredients, prompting a numbing quantity of food recalls that ranged from ice cream to pet food to sandwich crackers.

Pritzker Olsen is representing the families of three people who died in the outbreak and client Jeffrey Almer provided moving testimony on Feb. 11 to members of Congress. Contaminated peanut butter killed his mother, Shirley Mae Almer of Minnesota, after she had twice defeated cancer.

Just as the shock of contaminated peanut butter was wearing off, Americans learned that dangerous microbes were harboring in cookie dough. E. coli O157:H7 was not previously associated with raw, refrigerated cookie dough. But by mid-summer, 76 people in 31 states were confirmed victims of an E. coli outbreak traced to Nestle Toll House products made in Danville, Virginia. Despite an exhaustive investigation and temporary shutdown of the plant, conclusions could not be made with regard to the root cause of contamination. But, according to the CDC, the outbreak caused 35 hospitalizations and 11 confirmed cases of HUS.

Overlapping the cookie dough outbreak was a more familiar outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 caused by ground beef. At least 24 people from nine states were infected by the same strain of E. coli that Michigan public health investigators found in ground beef produced by JBS Swift Beef Co. There was an initial recall of 41,280 pounds, but it was soon widened to include 380,000 pounds of the product.

A smaller ground beef E. coli outbreak killed a 7-year-old Cleveland girl. Ohio health investigators associated her death with contaminated ground beef from Valley Meats LLC of Coal Valley, Ill., which recalled 95,898 pounds of potentially tainted hamburger meat in May that had been delivered to restaurants.

Two Salmonella outbreaks in 2009 were associated with ground beef produced by Beef Packers Inc., of Fresno, Calif. In August, the plant recalled 400 tons of ground beef, followed in early December by a recall of 22,723 pounds of hamburger products distributed by Safeway food stores in Arizona and Gallup, N.M.

Beyond the raw numbers of recalls and outbreaks, the New York Times showed in a remarkable story published October 3 why eating ground beef is still a gamble. The story, which should win a Pulitzer Prize for reporter Michael Moss, proved that neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe. Moss traced how food giant Cargill used low-grade ingredients and minimal testing protocols to make a hamburger that inadvertently paralyzed a 22-year-old children’s dance instructor. The dancer’s E. coli infection is the kind of nightmare that might wake people up.

Fred Pritzker is founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, P.A., one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. The firm has collected millions of dollars on behalf of victims of food poisoning. Pritzker Olsen has offices at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402. For more information or to contact Fred call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or email fhp@pritzkerlaw.com.

That’s because an unknown quantity of the more than half-million pounds of  beef products recalled by Fairbank Farms on October 31 is still lurking in freezers of consumers. Therefore, the investigation into this outbreak by the CDC and several state health departments is continuing and CDC has issued advice to consumers.

So far there has been a cluster of 26 people from eight states infected with the outbreak strains of  E. coli O157:H7. One of the victims is a 5-year-old boy from Auburn, Maine, who was hospitalized for three weeks with E. coli HUS after eating ground beef tainted with E. coli O157:H7. His illness has been affirmatively matched to the outbreak. This young victim is represented by our national food safety firm, Pritzker Olsen Attorneys.

In my opinion, the needless suffering of all the people sickened so far in this outbreak only serves to underscore the need for more stringent testing in the meat industry. We can only hope that all consumers who purchased the contaminated ground beef produced by Fairbank Farms and sold through various retailers recognize the danger before they, too, suffer the consequences of lax testing and oversight.

The outbreak is centered in the Northeast, including the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and New York. The CDC is urging consumers to check their refrigerators and freezers for beef products produced by this firm and purchased on or after September 15, 2009. The meat has establishment number EST 492 stamped in the USDA mark of inspection, with product date codes of 091409, 091509 and 091609.

According to the most recent CDC snapshot of the outbreak — taken on November 20 — the latest reported illness began November 6. Here is the CDC’s chart of when the illnesses began. But, remember, the time from the beginning of the patient’s illness to the confirmation that he or she was part of an outbreak is typically about 2-3 weeks. Case counts in the midst of an outbreak investigation must be interpreted within this context.

On Halloween, Fairbank Farms recalled some 270 tons of ground beef  that could be contaminated with the outbreak strain of this pathogen. State and federal health officials are cautioning consumers to check their freezers for the recalled ground beef, which was produced September 14, 15 and 16 and is marked with “EST 492″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. For a complete list of retailers who sold the hamburger meat, click here.

E. coli O157:H7 was banned from fresh ground beef in the United States in 1994 and an inspection monitoring program was started. Consumers are not to blame when contaminated meat ends up in their kitchen and sickens a family member. But whether preparing a home-cooked meal of hamburgers or ordering a hamburger from a restaurant, you should always ensure for your own safety that patties have been cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. The simple rule is this: Color is not an indicator of doneness. An instant-read food thermometer will do the job.

Prior to June 1997, consumers who did not use a food thermometer were advised by USDA to cook ground beef patties
until the center and the cooked-out juices were no longer pink. Consumers were also advised to look for a firm “cooked” texture rather than a softer “raw or rare” texture in the meat.

However, research at Kansas State University in 1995 raised questions regarding the  visual checks.  Consequently, in June 1997, USDA issued a press release advising consumers to use a food thermometer when cooking ground beef patties, and not to rely on the internal color of the meat. Cooking to an internal temperature of 160 °F throughout kills E. coli O157:H7.

We now know that ferric pigment in ground beef can make the meat look brown even when raw. This depends on the exposure to oxygen and other factors in storage.

When ground beef is cooked, it changes color from red to pink to brown. If the meat is already brown, it will not change color during cooking. According to the USDA, recent research has shown some ground beef patties to look well-done at internal temperatures as low as 131 °F. The USDA’s own research has shown that more than 25 percent of fresh ground beef patties turned brown prematurely.

Conversely, some extra lean ground beef can still be pink on the inside when cooked to 160 degrees.

When eating out, ask your server if ground beef patties have been cooked to at least 155 °F for 15 seconds, as
recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Code. If not, send it back.

Reminders like this are important for the prevention of illness due to E. coli O157:H7, especially during an outbreak involving a half million pounds of ground beef. Our law firm has seen the devastation time and again brought by adulterated, undercooked hamburger.

E. coli HUS, in particular, is an extremely serious condition. It can cause kidney failure, brain damage, strokes, and seizures. The most likely victims are children under 5 and adults over 60.