According to a year-end 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 due to evidence of E. coli O157:H7 contamination.
The largest of the 15 recalls from USDA-inspected slaughter and grinding plants covered 545,699 pounds of ground beef produced this fall by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y.
Multi-state E. coli outbreaks associated with these recalls killed at least three people 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,” Fred Pritzker, founder and president of Pritzker Olsen, said in a news release. ”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.”
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.
Another isolated but disturbing hamburger E. coli outbreak occurred in October at a nature camp in Plymouth, Mass. In that case, more than 20 children and chaperons from a middle school in Rhode Island were sickened by contaminated ground beef traced to a meat packer in Brockton, Mass.
The Fairbank Farms recall was associated with an outbreak that killed two people and sickened 26. Records show 19 people were hospitalized and five developed HUS.
