000810 Hundreds of Tons of Ground Beef Recalled

HealthSCOUT - Several hundred tons of ground beef have been voluntarily recalled by supermarkets and meat wholesalers across the United States in recent weeks because of possible Escherichia coli contamination.

The recalls, which occurred from July 11 to July 31, were prompted by sensitive new tests performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that detected possible E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in two meat-packing plants and at ground-beef suppliers to the supermarket chain Stop & Shop, which is based in the Northeast.

The recalls stretched from Alaska -- where 800 pounds of ground beef were pulled from shelves -- to Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, where nearly 350,000 pounds of meat were withdrawn.

Federal officials say they have no reports of people getting sick from meat coming from the packaging plants or supermarkets that may have received tainted beef.

There's still a mystery about one death in Milwaukee. On July 29, a 3-year- old girl died from E. coli poisoning after eating at a Sizzler restaurant, city officials say. They know she had a hamburger, but most of the 42 other people who also became ill at the restaurant had eaten watermelon. That may have been the main source of the E. coli poisoning, officials believe. They haven't established whether the girl had watermelon as well as a burger.

"Those who consumed watermelon at the restaurant were eight times more likely to be infected with E. coli. We do not know if the watermelon was contaminated before or after it entered the restaurant,” according to Milwaukee's health commissioner, Dr. Seth Foldy.

The Milwaukee outbreak has not been traced to any of the plants or retailers that recalled the ground beef, says Kathy Miller, a spokeswoman for Milwaukee's Department of Health.

Sensitive new test spots bug

USDA officials say the recalls don't reflect worsening problems with the nation's meat supply.

"We started using a more sensitive test [for E. coli] that was announced last September," says Carol Blake of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. "It's four times more sensitive than tests we had previously used and it can detect much lower levels of E. coli than our previous tests could do."

This summer's problems began July 11 when Moyer Packaging Company of Sounderton, Pa., voluntarily recalled 346,700 pounds of ground beef patties after FSIS testing revealed E. coli contamination. The second meat-processing plant where E. coli was detected, Jac Pac Foods in Manchester, N.H., recalled 210,00 pounds of ground beef July 31.

Fearing the threat of possible contamination, ground beef was subsequently recalled by food retailers in Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Affected wholesalers were in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

In addition to Stop & Shop, ground beef was recalled by retailers Trader Joe's, with outlets from California to Connecticut; Albertson's of Portland, Ore.; and the online shopping service Shoplink.com.

There are approximately 20,000 cases of E. coli contamination and 250 deaths in the United States each year. The bacteria causes severe, often bloody, diarrhea. It can also cause a breakdown in the urinary symptom, which can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The infection is particularly hard on the very young and elderly.

Chuck Hungler, a spokesman for Jac Pac Foods, says, E. coli "starts at the slaughterhouse."

The bacterium ordinarily lives harmlessly in the stomachs of cattle. Contamination occurs when cattle are confined to feed lots to be fattened for slaughter. The animals spread the germ by defecating and drooling into shared water troughs.

"No matter how much testing we do you can't test 100% of the meat," Hungler adds.

Hungler says grinding the meat into ground beef distributes the bacteria throughout the product. "When you grill a steak, you kill the bacteria on the outside, where it resides. But in ground beef, it gets ground in so you don't know where it is. So you can't eat it pink without a risk."

Hungler thinks food irradiation is the solution. "The public perception is that they are going to glow or something. But irradiation is a completely safe process and eventually, I think, it will be the way we get rid of this problem."

Irradiation, which uses electron beams to destroy E. coli and other bacteria, was approved by the USDA last year and is now being used at a handful of meat-processing plants in the Midwest.

What To Do

The only sure-fire way of avoiding E. coli infection "is the safe handling of meat," says Blake. "It should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 F.

Color is no indicator of internal temperature, Blake warns. "Studies have shown that some burgers can be brown on the inside but still not be at the proper temperature. And some burgers can be pink on the inside and be at 160 F."

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