Ground Beef recall expanded

[Mini]

TRENTON, N.J. - The Topps Meat Co. on Saturday expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties to include 21.7 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria that sickened more than a dozen people in eight states.

The recall of products distributed to retail grocery stores and food service institutions in the United States was a drastic increase from the 332,000 pounds recalled Tuesday.

The recall represents all Topps products with either a "sell by date" or a "best if used by date" between Sept. 25 this year and Sept. 25, 2008. The Elizabeth-based company said this information is found on a package's back panel.

All recalled products also have a USDA establishment number of EST 9748, which is located on the back panel of the package and-or in the USDA legend, the company said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday it had suspended the grinding of raw products at the Topps plant after inspectors found inadequate safety measures at the Topps plant. The USDA declined to detail the inadequate safety measures.

"Because the health and safety of our consumers is our top priority, we are taking these expansive measures," said Geoffrey Livermore, Topps' operations vice president.

He said Topps has augmented its procedures with microbiologists and food safety experts.

"We sincerely regret any inconvenience and concerns this may cause our consumers," Livermore said.

The USDA said three people are confirmed as getting E. Coli from Topps products, with 22 other cases under investigation. Cases were found in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

E. coli causes intestinal illness that generally clears up within a week for adults but can be deadly for the very young, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. Symptoms can include severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and, in extreme cases, kidney failure.

A full list of the recalled products is available at http://www.toppsmeat.com/.

[Jolie Rouge]

Our view on food safety:
When you buy red meat, looks can be deceiving
Mon Oct 1, 12:22 AM ET

Shoppers typically check the color of steak or ground beef before buying it. Red-looking meat is regarded as a sign of freshness. But meat sold at some stores is packaged in a way that allows it to keep that fresh, red color not just for days, but for months.

The trick is packaging that locks out most oxygen, which can turn meat brown and eventually help it spoil. Instead, the package is filled with a variety of other gases and a tiny, non-toxic amount of carbon monoxide (CO), which reacts with the meat to keep it red indefinitely.

Carbon monoxide doesn't change the taste of the meat or make it toxic. And the industry claims that the new packaging can extend shelf life and even retard the growth of — but not kill — dangerous E. coli bacteria, which has triggered the current recall of more than 21 million pounds of ground beef. But consumers could still be deceived into buying, or even using, bad meat.

The European Union has banned such packaging. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is proposing a lesser restriction, a label to alert consumers that the meat's color has been artificially enhanced and shouldn't be relied on to judge freshness.

That seems the least that's needed.

CO packaging is purely cosmetic and potentially deceptive. Meat can stay attractively red-looking long after it has lost its taste, and even long after it's spoiled. That could be a particular risk to elderly consumers whose sense of smell isn't what it used to be.

You'd think federal regulators would be all over this questionable practice. You'd be wrong. In April 2004, the Department of Agriculture declared that this sort of packaging "could potentially mislead consumers into believing they are purchasing a product that is fresher or of greater value than it actually is and may increase the potential for masking spoilage." But the industry fought back, and little more than a month later, the USDA reversed itself, citing industry data and declaring that such packing "will not mislead consumers."

Since then, the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which share authority over this, have allowed it to continue. Although there's no precise estimate of how much meat is treated this way, the industry says it's widely available nationally.

Supporters of CO packaging say consumers should always check the "sell by" or "use by" dates and check for signs of spoilage. Well, sure, but why not warn consumers that something they've always relied on as a sign of freshness — color — is unreliable?

Safeway stopped selling CO-packaged meat after an inquiry from the House committee. Target is the only national chain that carries it, according to the panel. A spokesperson for Royal Ahold units Stop & Shop and Maryland-based Giant, supermarket chains in New England and the mid-Atlantic states, said those stores sell ground beef packaged this way.

The USDA and the FDA declined to provide an opposing view for this editorial. An FDA e-mail concluded: "Consumers should not be concerned with meat packaged with carbon monoxide." Perhaps. But aren't they at least entitled to know what they're dealing with?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20071001/cm_usatoday/ourviewonfoodsafetywhenyoubuyredmeatlookscanbedece iving;_ylt=Agx9rKmMwoqg0HEz5BG6HYes0NUE


Opposing view:
Packaging produces benefits
Mon Oct 1, 12:21 AM ET
By Randy Huffman

Meat products packaged with modified air are proven products that have food safety and quality benefits, documented by independent scientists and reviewed and accepted by the Agriculture Department (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The packages keep meat fresher longer, prevent spoilage and the "off" flavors oxygen causes, and restrict harmful bacteria from growing if present.

The air we breathe includes gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and oxygen, the enemy of freshness. Traditional packaging allows oxygen in, causing meat to brown and lose freshness quickly. By removing oxygen, but keeping some of the other gases in air — nitrogen, carbon dioxide and even carbon monoxide at a minute and safe level of 0.4% — meat stays fresh and red much longer. Similar packaging is used to keep sliced apples white and crispy, and snack foods crunchy.

A well-financed campaign was waged by Kalsec, the Michigan-based maker of a rosemary chemical extract that also keeps meat red, though not as long as low-oxygen packaging. Kalsec has tried to convince home-state lawmakers that low-oxygen packaging works so well that if meat were left out of refrigeration overnight (something mandatory labels on every package say not to do) meat might spoil and still appear red.

What Kalsec doesn't want to discuss is that if meat in low-oxygen packaging were abused this badly, the package would bulge, the meat would become slimy and the package would have an overpowering stink upon opening — even if it appeared red.

Consumers have purchased more than 300 million of these packages with no food safety issues and a record-breaking level of satisfaction, according to industry tracking data. Every package is produced under controlled conditions and federal supervision. The seal isn't broken until the package gets to the consumer's home.

Banning the packaging or mandating alarmist labels is unjustified and unfair. This packaging makes meat look and taste better, keeps it fresh longer and prevents harmful bacteria from growing. Lawmakers shouldn't fuel an unfounded food safety scare by pandering to the hometown donor. FDA, USDA, scientists and consumers have spoken. We should listen.

Dr. Randy Huffman is vice president of scientific affairs for the American Meat Institute Foundation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20071001/cm_usatoday/opposingviewpackagingproducesbenefits;_ylt=AjfCMl3 QkO5uA0DFiZEoEO6s0NUE

[Jolie Rouge]

Topps calls it quits after beef recall
By JEFFREY GOLD, AP Business Writer
11 minutes ago

NEWARK, N.J. - Topps Meat Co. on Friday said it was closing its business, six days after it was forced to issue the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history.

On Sept. 25 Topps began recalling frozen hamburger patties that may have been contaminated after with the E. coli bacteria strain O157:H7. The recall eventually ballooned to 21.7 million pounds of ground beef.

Thirty people in eight states had E. coli infections matching the strain found in the Topps patties, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. None have died.

"This is tragic for all concerned," said Topps chief operating officer Anthony D'Urso, a member of the family that founded the company in 1940.

"In one week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large," D'Urso said in a statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_bi_ge/meat_recall;_ylt=AvaDHsXPnT.r274hogjhNBCs0NUE

[Char]

Wow ! I hate to hear that ! I assumed they lost a huge amount of money over the recall... but, most businesses have insurance to cover such losses.