FDA Announces New E. Coli Recall (Beef-7 States)

[OhioChick]

FDA Announces New E. Coli Recall; 5,226 Pounds Of Ground Beef Across 7 States

October 6, 2006 8:57 p.m. EST


Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Jim's Market and Locker, Inc. a Harlan, Iowa, firm, are recalling an estimated 5,226 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli.

The recall includes:

* 10-pound boxes of "PACKED FOR: DAVIS MOUNTAIN ORGANIC BEEF, 100% CERTIFIED ORGANIC 3-1 BEEF PATTIES." Each box bears the lot code "G6-540" or "G6-544."

* Five-pound packages of "DAVIS MOUNTAINS 100% ORGANIC BEEF, LEEAN GROUND BEEF 90/10." Each package bears the lot code "G6-544."

* One-pound packages of "MASTER CHOICE 100% ORGANIC ANGUS BEEF, 90/10 GROUND BEEF." Each package bears the lot code "G6-544."

* One-pound packages of "DAVIS MOUNTAINS 100% CERTIFIED ORGANIC GROUND BEEF." Each package bears the lot code "G6-544."

* 10.5-pound boxes of "NEBRASKA, BEEF GROUND BEEF PATTY 6 OZ." Each box bears the lot code "G6-541."

* 60-pound boxes of "SPECIALLY SELECTED FOR: FARNER-BOCKEN FOOD SERVICE BEEF PATTIE MIX 6/10#." Each box bears the lot code "G6-542."

* One-pound packages of "PACKED FOR: IRWIN COUNTRY STORE, BEEF GROUND BEEF 16 OZ." The package bears the lot code "G6-541."

* One-pound blocks of "PACKED FOR: IRWIN COUNTRY STORE, BEEF GROUND BEEF PATTIES 4-1." The product bears the code "G6-541."

* 10-pound boxes of "DISTRIBUTED BY: STUBE RANCH, WAGYU BEEF, BEEF GROUND BEEF PATTIES, 8 OZ. PATTIES." The product bears the lot code "G6-546."

According to officials, each package bears the establishment number "Est. 2424" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The problem was discovered through microbiological testing. FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of this product.

The warning explains that the ground beef products were produced on August 31 and September 1 and distributed to one retail establishment in Iowa and distributors in Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Texas and Wisconsin.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005098601

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. this and mad cow

Is why we no longer eat ground beef in this house. :scared:

[bperci108]

2. Just as an experiment...

...stop at your local beef supplier (hopefully selling local cows) and get some "lower quality" round steaks (not as lean as the nice ones in the case) and see if they will make you a deal on 5# or so.

Grind up your own (presuming you have one of those old-type hand grinders - they go really cheap at garage sales) and see what hamburger used to be like.

The quality difference is amazing. ;)

And you know exactly what went into it, too...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. Oh I know!

I grew up on a cattle ranch. Store food just aint' the same. :(

I have connections, I should have a packed freezer by the first of Nov. I'm still having trouble finding a grinder though, and Grandma won't give her's up.

[shanti]

8. here ya go:

i love this store....http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=9987&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=meat+grinder

[bperci108]

12. Another that caters to the Amish (The Non-Electric Store)

All sorts of good stuff to live simpler:


http://www.lehmans.com/


:hi:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

14. If I paint the handle red...

it will look almost exactly like the one Gran uses. :)

[shanti]

51. i used to have one too

you have to be careful about drying it properly after use as it's made of iron and rusts easily....

[bperci108]

9. Try the local hardware store...

My local Ace Hardware has them in stock and any Ace can order them from the warehouse. Probably the same from Tru-Value, etc.

Or here:

http://www.home-processor.com/handgrinders.shtml


And they do pop up at garage sales. I've had three or four come through and never gave more than $5 for them.

ALL needed a good scrubbing, though....

[kestrel91316]

11. All sorts of meat grinders available online through Lehman's. They are

a big nonelectric goods supplier to the Amish (originally) and us "english" (of late).

They have the hand cranked ones, lol. If you want electric, maybe a Kitchen Aid mixer with the meat grinder attachment is for you. But it's child's play to grind up a pound or two of meat for burgers.....

[allisonthegreat]

30. don't give up those grinders...

There used to be one that came on the back of the old Kitchen Aid mixers as an attachment.

[Tesha]

50. We've been pleased with our Kitchen Aid mixer's add-on meat grinder. (NT)

[kath]

59. Yep, we've been grinding our own with our Kitchen-Aid too.

Works great.
We avoided beef entirely for the first year or so after the first US mad cow case Christmas of 2003 (or was it 2004) Since then have compromised by buying some boneless beef cuts for the occasional pot roast, etc and by grinding our own for burgers and chili.

Ground chuck is best for burgers - if too lean (like round), the burgers are just too dry.

[kestrel91316]

10. I used to use round steak to do this, but trimmed it too much and

when it's got ZERO fat, lol, it falls apart when cooking (makes crumbled hamburgers). So I use chuck roast and trim it, and the little bit more fat makes it perfect.

The ONLY clean ground meats are those we grind OURSELVES right at home, fresh.

The store stuff is hideously contaminated. Used to be all you had to worry about was the rare case of Salmonella - in the Good Old Days............

[Cozumel]

47. As a butcher...

I work at the local Wild Oats here in Melbourne. About the ONLY ground beef I eat is what I grind myself. It's from Coleman Natural (www.colemannatural.com i think), and has no hormones, antibiotics, and is all veg-fed. About the best beef I ever tasted. Then again, not everyone has this option, but I have been very conscious of what I put in my body lately. A very good alternative to GB is ground bison. less fat, all the flavor. You can find Maverick brand bison at publix (once again, no hormones, antibiotics, and veg-fed) or Great Range bison at Wild Oats. I'm sure there are other brands at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's as well, but there's no Trader Joe's in my state (FL) that I know of, and the closest Whole Foods is NOT worth driving to. however, befriend your local butcher. get everything ground fresh. and as LONG as the grinder hasn't been dirty for over an hour, ask em to grind w/o cleaning (believe me, the quartenary santizer they use while cleaning RUINS the beef, as long as it was just beef, bison, or lamb in it, you're cool). This isn't my profession of choice, and once i'm done with college and (hopefully) get a good job, at least i'll be able to buy stuff in bulk and debone it, cut it and grind it myself. Any ?'s about beef and what not, let me know.

p.s. Coleman is MAD COW FREE!

[girl gone mad]

22. The butcher should be able to..

grind it up for you.

[Tellurian]

54. ...

[Tellurian]

55. The E-Coli is located within the bio composition of the grain.

The grain is then ingested by the beef steer..

The e-coli resides latently within the meat itself..

Someone is deliberately experimenting with this Monsanto e-coli tainted
bio-engineered grain trying to ascertain which effects deliver the most
lethal dose, enough to kill humans, the plants themselves or the products
of those that first ingest the tainted plants.

[bperci108]

56. Better check your science.

You are incorrect.

(And I wonder the source?)

The pathway isn't internal, it's external.


IOW - IBT, ConAgra, National Beef, etc. are getting cow shit in the meat during processing.

Solid meat contains no E. Coli, it may appear on the surface due to contaminants, but it is destroyed in cooking.

[Lurking Dem]

57. You are absolutely right.

That is why hamburger needs to be thoroughly cooked to be safe but you can still have a rare steak. The ground meat has the e coli all mixed up in it while it is only on the outside of a steak or roast.

[Tellurian]

58. For you're own sake, check your scientific knowledge

Rent this dvd, then tell me what you've learned-

The e-coli g-nome has been inserted biologically into
the nucleus of the plant seed..grains such as wheat,
oats, barley, soy virtually any grain used for foodstuffs
for animals and humans. The egregious efforts of
Monsanto Laboratories.

(some of ) The spinach produce is the example of how
the bacteria, lethal in some cases, has been introduced
via the bio-engineering process. The contamination you've
cited is old school thinking...you'll have to make a concerted effort
if you intend to update your scientific knowledge to function in
the 21st century.

Please forgive my impatient tone..(very tired today)-

[bperci108]

60. Your contention is....

...that because livestock was fed this grain it is now just filled to the brim, on a cellular level with E. Coli bacteria?


Uh....okay. Whatever you say. :eyes:


Maybe you had better check with more than just this one source?

Say, maybe some peer-reviewed studies?

Just because someone's professional-looking DVD documentary claims to be the "truth" doesn't automatically make it so.

Remember the "Clinton Chronicles" documentary? ;)

[Name removed]

61. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

64. ...

"you'll have to make a concerted effort
if you intend to update your scientific knowledge to function in
the 21st century."

Ironic, then, that you refer to them as "g-nomes."

These aren't tiny little men with pointy hats that we're talking about.

[Tellurian]

53. ...

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[patrick t. cakes]

5. know your food

buy locasl, support family farms.

[Phredicles]

6. Any chance funding for food safety inspectors will be increased?

Oh, wait, I think I know the answer to that one. :eyes:

[kestrel91316]

13. When I semiretire I plan to go work for USDA as a VMO, supervising the

actual inspectors at some packing plant, making the world safe for food eaters, lol. A noble calling, but thankless and the pay is low (great bennies are how they get us medical professionals to take the work).

Your veterinary profession at work, sir!

[undergroundpanther]

7. I do

[donsu]

31. true

nt

[bunny planet]

15. I'm starting to get really suspicious here.

Everything that has been recalled in the last few weeks has been organic, first spinach, then carrot juice, now organic beef.
Doesn't it seem as if,:tinfoilhat:, that would be advantageous by default for big agra, and big cattle. Not that I'm doubting people got sick, just that so many recalls in organic products seems very strange. Could be nothing, there are conventional recalls among this latest bunch. Think about it though, the end result could be to cause people to be fearful from buying organic produce, something that was catching on in a big way and I'm sure cutting into conventional pesticide ridden big agra products.

Never mind me, I'm an organic kitchen garden person myself, always suspicious of the large conglomerate farms that are destroying our land with their short sighted farming practices for huge profits.

Also, there's the underlying fear factor coming into play now. Are they actually tampering with our food, is it agri- terrorism and we just don't know it yet because its top secret because the government doesn' want people to panic. Not that that's actually happening just that ratcheting up the fear close to elections might make the base run back to the 'security' Republicans and ignore that their new name is probably more likely the Repubeblicans right now.

I'm just tired and paranoid in these last thirty days of uncertainty. What will these corrupt clowns try next.
Probably way off here on my part.

I'll go to sleep now.

[Rainscents]

16. I notice that too... very fishy.

[TheWatcher]

17. I have noticed it too, and your suspicions are very valid.

They are also very logical, and not at all a stretch when you consider what we know and can very legitimately suspect our government and corporate structure has done in the past, especially in the past six years, to further their own agendas, no matter how psychotic, evil, immoral, reckless or irresponsible.

However, no matter how logical these assertions are, when you try to raise such concerns to the masses, you are mostly left with blank, glazed over stares, non-response, or are pooh-poohed as a "conspiracy kook."

Living in the times we are living in makes me want to tear my hair out and scream.

We can see the obvious of what is happening around us, yet most of us will go out of our way to not see the elephant in the room.

In the end, sometimes I think our civilization and way of life is going to be destroyed not soley because of the evils that brought us to that destruction, but equally because we watched it all happen, knowingly and consciously, and chose to pretend it wasn't real.

I swear, one of these days we are going to watch these thugs engage the purposeful and deliberate destruction of an entire Metropolitan City on live television, and yet the majority of us will insist that it never happened.

Oh, wait.....

[Rainscents]

20. You know,

I've eaten nothing but organic foods and NEVER wash veggies and fruits for past 16 years and I've never once been sick from it. Before I switch to organic, I was always sick from toxic foods I was eating. I even drink organic raw milk and never got sick from it. All I know is, corporate wants to bring down organic farmers and this makes me very ill and angry.

[Mind_your_head]

19. You're not way off at all......it is all MORE than suspicious! n/t

[NashVegas]

38. I Wonder If These Are Factory Farms

That hopped onto the organic craze, or ...

[hvn_nbr_2]

18. Think they'll remove all beef from the market for a couple weeks...

like they did spinach? Nah, didn't think so.

[Kali]

37. No because it was tracked much more intensly. And it was from a relativly

Small company. Regs for meat have been majorly improved for this after the Jack In the Box incidents in the 80's.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15090925/ Despite E. coli outbreak, food safer than ever
Better industry controls result in fewer illnesses, federal statistics show

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5514a2.htm?s_cidmm5514a2_e Preliminary FoodNet Data on the Incidence of Infection with Pathogens Transmitted Commonly Through Food --- 10 States, United States, 2005

[TheWraith]

62. Plus, this is much less of a problem than that was.

Beef is always cooked before eating, and any kind of decent cooking will kill e. coli. Spinach is vastly more likely to be left uncooked.

[LeftyMom]

21. Why did they take so long to warn people about this?

This is six weeks old! Most of this stuff has already been consumed!

[Rainscents]

23. FDA is making shit up as they go?

If this was so serious, we would all been warned long time ago.

[JerseygirlCT]

26. That's what I'm wondering. How the hell would you know what

the package that you threw out 2 weeks ago said?

[Kali]

35. I agree, but do note how precise the tracking is and....

"FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of this product. "

Cooking. It works.

[LeftyMom]

40. Without warning, how are people to connect thier illness to this product?

Back when I was an omni I certainly wasn't in the habit of keeping my meat wrappers lying about for days after I ate the stuff to identify it if I got sick. Hell, I usually broke up the pack, wrapped it in foil, stuck it in the freezer and couldn't have told you if it came from a specific processor when I ate it. At best I might have been able to tell you the grocery store and maybe the approximate date I'd purchased it. I think that's typical consumer behavior.

It usually takes an unusual number of cases and some investigation into what they all ate to determine the causes of foodborne illness. Without a huge, somewhat localized spike in cases nobody bothers, since foodborne illness is fairly common. And of course many cases cause illness without hospitalization (especially in healthy people) and the only investigation and reporting that occurs is the family phone call to see if dinner didn't sit well with anybody else.

As for the precision, they know what state those boxes went to? I'd hardly call that precise. Precise is "The potentially contaminated product was sold at the Howe Avenue, Arden Way and Alhambra Safeway locations in Sacramento the first week of September." Telling what states it went to is very vauge, especially since most people will no longer have the packaging and likely never had this information at all on the consumer-level styrofoam tray package. Doubly so since it went to distributors in some of those states and from there to ??? Restraunts, small markets, cooperative buying clubs? We have no idea. :shrug:

[Kali]

44. Um ... I said I agree...however this IS a warning....

Perhaps not as instantaneous as we fantasize that the govenment should be, when we demand that it protect us, but certainly an improvement over the tracking and oversight of produce. Can it be improved even more? probably, and that should be addressed along with what folks are willing to pay for that improvement.

The article doesn't say, but the list of products looks to me to be likely to be frozen boxed, so it is more likely to be found and pulled than fresh would be.

As you yourself point out, most folks aren't even going to be affected anyway.

And again, cooking correctly and proper avoidance of kitchen cross contamination would render the whole matter moot anyway.

[LeftyMom]

48. A six week old warning is hardly a warning at all.

As for the difference between tracking of flesh foods and produce, the difference is perfefly understandable. Plant foods are much less likely to be contaminated.

[Kali]

49. most outbreaks aren't even discovered until AFTER people get sick

I have no idea how they discovered this contamination, nor how long they may have "waited" to issue the recall. On the face of the available info, it looks like it ts being handled appropriately,

[Hekate]

24. I don't eat beef any more; * has FEMA-fied the FDA, too

Over 10 years ago I read that due to modern centralized meat-processing plants, as many as 200 cows may have "donated" to each pound of hamburger -- and no one really knows which farms they came from. That explains why hundreds of thousands of beef end up being recalled at once when a few packages turn out bad.

Then came mad cow disease, and the dodgy way the government is handling THAT issue.

Hekate

[Kali]

34. Meat isn't overseen by the FDA

Not that USDA doesn't have it's problems, but different agencies. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have introduced a bill which proposes the creation of a Food Safety Administration to assume all responsibility for food safety now shared by USDA and FDA.

[RebelOne]

25. I am so very happy that I am a vegetarian

so that I don't have to get all stressed out when I see reports like this.

[LeftyMom]

32. ditto.

:hi:

[Kali]

36. No, but you can get stressed out by reports of contaminated

veggies, because the risks are very similar.

[LeftyMom]

43. The contamination usually comes from animal ag though.

Until spinach gets a digestive tract we can safely assume that e. coli comes from biological contamination (a rather nice way of saying poop) from animal (usually cow, and usually grain fed dairy cows in the case of the acid-loving strain in that case) feces.

[Kali]

45. You are partly correct that these particularly bad forms of E Coli

are produce in grain fed cattle, but I don't believe dairy cows are fed a whole lot of grain - feeding grain is expensive and done primarily for beef production. You are also correct it is a digestive tract organism. As for "usually cow" I would need to see some realiable stats. Not denying that source, but not sure it is the usual. My understanding is most contaminated produce gets that way during processing and humans are the source.

[TheWraith]

63. Milk cows are pasture-fed.

That's grass and weeds in the summer, and hay (which is basically dried grass and weeds) in the winter. It's not unheard of for them to get grain or silage (dried, chopped corn stalks) but mostly they're pasture fed.

[dapper]

27. I'm having a BBQ today

and picked up meat last night. I'll have to check my ground beef package. Thanks for posting this!

Dap

[Mountainman]

28. What the hell is organic beef?

No pestiside beef? WTF?

[OhioChick]

29. Beef produced without

pesticides, chemicals, etc.

[LeftyMom]

33. The difference is that the feed is organic and use of antibiotics and

hormones is restricted.

[ecoalex]

41. Buy local grass fed beef, it's high in Omega 3 fats, good for you

Fed lot beef is unfit to eat. Fattening beef on just grain is another perversion of ag.Feed lot beef is sickly from acidosis, and must be fed antibiotics to stave off disease in the weakened cattle.Grain is for non ruminants, or people.Fish are polluted with mercury, much less mercury in land based beef.Mercury is concentrated in fish by the ocean food chain, by the time you eat the top of the chain the mercury is much more concentrated.Fish from the south Pacfic have the least mercury, fish off the South American coasts, and Atlantic, have the most.

[LeftyMom]

42. Oh, there's no danger of me bying any kind of beef or fish at all.

:D

[Kali]

46. Feed lot beef is NOT unfit to eat, and a huge portion of the world's

hungry population would be glad to take it off our hands. The rest of your statement is correct. Local grass fed is MUCH better and much more natural.

It is WAY better than feedlot beef, in taste, ecology, nutrition and usually in health risks. But that does NOT make the mass produced meat unfit to eat. (unless you just meant as a subjective personal choice, in which case I would pretty much agree)

I believe we need to change the way we produce food in this culture, but I don't think the food produced in that other model is unfit to eat by any means.

[Kali]

39. Either the grain fed is organically produced, or the animals have

been raised stricly on pasture/grass. No hormones, antibiotics strictly controled for illness only. Most I know don't send treated animal for organic at all. (also illness is extremely rare for pasture raised animals in the first place, mostly for minor things like eye infections)

chek this out ---> http://www.eatwild.com/

[stepnw1f]

66. "raised stricly on pasture/grass"

My understanding is that grain is not even cattles natural means of feed? Is this true too?

[Dragonbreathp9d]

52. Terrorists?

Maybe we have been attacked since 9/11. I dont know much about ecoli, but this popping up everywhere is a little odd

[stepnw1f]

65. Let's See... Spinach, Lettuce, Broccolli, Beef...

bullshit!

Anyone out there know how this impacts the market? What is really going on here? Why all of the sudden do we see so much E. Coli?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

67. It's the same reason...

so many blonde girls are getting kidnapped.

[flvegan]

68. Shitburger jokes aside, since proper cooking destroys e.coli, then

why try to recall it a month later? Continue to educate folks on proper cooking and handling techniques of meat, rather than doing what seems like a big waste. I don't eat meat, but I see this as 5,226 pounds of wasted food in a world where far too many folks go hungry. I also see this as the senseless end to the results of the miserable slaughter of a great many animals.