HOW does a company have 22 MILLION pounds of beef contaminated?

[napi21]

I can understand a batch or two with a problem, but 22 MILLION POUNDS???? That way more than one batch! I'm sorry to hear that a company that's been in business for sooo long is now gone, but I still don't understand how that much product was processed through their operation and no problem was found.

[babylonsister]

1. And go out of business...suddenly, sounds like. More like 'why'? nt

[napi21]

4. WHY? Because is suspect gr beef was the biggest part of their business

and do you realise how much 22 MILLION POUNDS really is??? I don't know micjh acout this whole story, but if any company has to "eat" a two or three week production run (or more) they just can't survive!

[babylonsister]

12. Oh, yea, with so much experience? I just want to know why they folded. nt

[napi21]

16. Frozen gr beef patties was their MAIN PrODUCT!

Check this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topps_Meat_Company

2007 it was "one of the country’s largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers."

Any company that loses a total 2-3 week production run can't survive! I'm guessing at the 2-3 weeks part. It may be more than that! 21 MILLION pounds of beef is a LOT!!!!

[liberal renegade]

22. it was 52 weeks of production.

[bbgrunt]

2. damn good question.

[AllyCat]

3. 'cuz Wal-Mart said so. They want things done cheap and don't care how

it happens.

[Lucinda]

5. I caught a blip on CNN the other day that said a lot of it

was recalled due to packing process problems/violations and not so much that there was actual contamination in the beef...dont have a link.

[napi21]

8. Hmmm, I don't know about that. Look at this link.

"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," said Anthony D'Urso, chief operating officer. "We sincerely regret the impact this will have on our employees, our customers and suppliers, and the community."


http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/10/01/daily52.html

The whole link seems to indicate this was completely linked to e-coli

[Lucinda]

19. Found this one at Topps Meat

The link is a pdf from Sept 29 - prior to the announced business closure.

I cant copy and paste and my eyes are shot so I'll paraphrase and link...

The pdf says that they are augmenting their internal quality control procedure with microbiologists and food safety experts.

Thats sort of supports the CNN blip. If it was sufficient prior to the problem they probably wouldn't need to augment. Is this stuff ever going to end?

http://www.toppsmeat.com/Topps%20Meat%20Company%20LLC%20Expands%20Ground%20Beef%20Recall%20To%20Help%20Ensure%20Consumer%20Safety.pdf">Topps Meat Website

[Az]

6. Have you ever heard of a Corporation?

Its a business concept that in the end places profit above any other motivation. Unregulated such entities can go to quite the extreme in the pursuit of profits.

[rusty quoin]

7. Where the hell has quality control gone in this country?

[WinkyDink]

34. Where was it ever?

[alittlelark]

9. No REAL inspections performed.... why bother?

The peasants are the peasants... some will live some will die - those that live will produce a profit.......

[napi21]

10. I don't buy that! 67 years in business? I don't buy the no inspection theory.

Something else happened here, but I doubt we'll ever find out what it was.

[alittlelark]

14. You didn't PAY up.

end of story..... a few dead ppl are fine , so long as you PAY.

[rucky]

26. no inspections under Bush Admin.

when the cat's away, the mice end up in your green beans

[Psephos]

11. Why bother? Maybe so that your company doesn't go poof.

IMO, we need a few of them to go poof now and then to remind the others to stay vigilant.

It looks to me like the system worked in this case. Whoever takes their place in grocery stores will likely be more attentive to contamination and its causes.

[alittlelark]

15. Ever worked in a restaurant? Find a restaurant that is not

paying off corrupt 'inspectors'. It is an ugly industry.


That being said,,,, If they had given enough $$$ to the right ppl they would still be in business.


They stood their ground- damn, bad joke, bad situation....

[FormerDittoHead]

33. No way. I used to work in a meat packing plant. The problem is with tracking.

First off, any meat processing plant which sells over state lines must have a USDA inspectors on premises while open.

That's every day, every hour.

While working at the meat processors, I worked on a tracking program for their batches. The problem I had was that even the plant manager didn't know what really needed to be done. he knew how to get you moving faster, but didn't understand the importance of tracking the batches. The only other guy in the plant that really understood things was the Quality Assurance guy, and NOBODY liked him, because the ONLY thing the Q&A guy did was to slow us down. (welcome to business!)

When we were putting together the tracking system, I started to explain how every lot had to be scanned in, every incoming batch had to be tracked into every outgoing batch, etc. The plant manager shook his head - there's no way these idiots can be trusted to do this reliably. If there's a recall, we're going to have to recall the whole day's processing (which, at the time was hundreds of thousands of pounds, and our plant wasn't that big, ~300 employees).

I explained to him that if we split the incoming batches, however, something which we regularly did, then that thinking may require us to recall TWO WHOLE DAYS of processing, if not THREE, to straddle the splitting...

Everything was a struggle. Everyone just wanted to cut, grind, package, box, and ship. They wanted technology to be completely transparent and not have to learn anything new.

I ended up leaving there, but I got to see the dynamics of the industry, and so a recall of this size especially from an older company set in its ways doesn't surprise me.

[Hoof Hearted]

13. Are you looking for the quick and simple answer?

There is none, really, in this case.

This was kind of like Chernobyl, the perfect shit-storm of bad practices, bad policies and poor/non-existent controls all married together into what you see today.

[dailykoff]

17. Some "equity" outfit bought the company for its cash,

sucked it out, then ran it into the ground. Now they'll sell its assets, pocket the change, and move on to take over some other well-established company. This is SOP.

[happygoluckytoyou]

18. WHATS YOUR BEEF.... WHERES THE BEEF.....

SO LONG AS CORPORATE AMERICA IS ALLOWED TO WIN ALL THE LAWSUITS....

AND THE GOP IS PRO-MONEY MORE THAN PRO-HEALTH OR PRO-PEOPLE....

JUST TRY TO AVOID WATCHING THAT BURGER CRAWL OUT FROM THE BUN


------A LAWYER LIKE EDWARDS IN THE WHITEHOUSE WOULD NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO AMERICA

[TreasonousBastard]

20. It wasn't-- there was some contamination, but...

it was impossible to break out particular lots, so the whole run had to be trashed, good and bad meat. Mostly good.

[napi21]

30. IF that's true, that's f-ing stupidity on the company's part!

EVERY mfg. of consumable products knows to keep batches separate and identifiable. IF they didn't do that, I can't even understand how they survived as many years as they did!
. Personally, I don't believe that story. It sounds like a CYA to me.

[Hekate]

21. How?Centralized, regional, meat processing plants.Your burger can have bits of a thousand cows in it

When I first read about this about 15 years ago it was "bits of 200 cows" in a pound of hamburger -- the latest thing I read has it up to 1,000 now. Instead of fixing the problem of mass contamination of insanely large batches of meat, it has been compounded.

In short, that seems to be the reason that (a) so much has to be assumed to have been contaminated, and (b) why they can't isolate a single bad batch and recall just that.

It's stupid.

Hekate

[tabasco]

31. I remember an expert saying a McDonald's burger can have meat from 200 cows.

So 1000 sounds about right for a pound.

[spanone]

23. lax government regulation

the republicans believe that business will regulate themselves...i.e. mattel et. al.

[marmar]

24. One of the many joys of unregulated laissez-faire capitalism......

:toast: :nuke:

[madokie]

25. how much were they paying the employees

to me is a good question to be asking 'cause pretty much you get what you pay for, imo

[radfringe]

27. more concerned with stockholders and profits

than safety/quality of product

[SoCalDem]

28. AND ONLY 87 EMPLOYEES.. That's the gem that perked up my radar..

I guess the machines that process & pack the stuff never ask each other if batches are being tested..now do they?

[BrotherBuzz]

29. Think Typhoid Mary

[Kansas Wyatt]

32. Unless you can identify for certain what beef & equipment was contaminated....

Then all of your product has the potential to be contaminated. Only pull a few batches, then other batches start making people sick or killing them, you become liable for a whole lot more than the entire product you recalled.