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Ground Beef E coli Detected by School Lunch Program

Posted by Kathy Will on Jan 5, 2010 in E. coli Prevention | 0 comments

A screen for E. coli O157:H7 in raw hamburger and a similar screen for Salmonella used by the national school lunch program has led to changes in the way the USDA is treating a major supplier of ground beef.

In 2007, USDA exempted South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. from routine testing for E. coli O157:H7 after the agency endorsed a process that the company said reduced the bacteria “to an undetectable level.” The process? Injecting beef with ammonia.

But a story last week by New York Times reporter Michael Moss disclosed that food safety protocols at the national school lunch program had found E. coli and Salmonella pathogens dozens of times in Beef Products meat, challenging claims about the effectiveness of the ammonia treatment. The lunch program operates within USDA and last year purchased 5.5 million pounds of processed beef products.

Since 2005,E. coli has been found 3 times and Salmonella 48 times, including back-to-back incidents in August in which two 27,000-pound batches were found to be contaminated, the Times reported. The meat was caught before reaching lunchrooms.

In July, school lunch officials temporarily banned their hamburger makers from using meat from a Beef Products facility in Kansas because of Salmonella — the third suspension in three years, records obtained by reporter Moss show. Yet the facility remained approved by the USDA for other customers.

Presented by The Times with the school lunch test results, top USDA officials said they were not aware of what their colleagues in the lunch program had been finding for years. In response, the agriculture department said it was revoking Beef Products’ exemption from routine testing and conducting a review of the company’s operations and research.

Beef Products maintains that its ammonia process remains effective. It said it tests samples of each batch it ships to customers and has found E. coli in only 0.06 percent of the samples this year.

Vaccines Hold Promise for E coli Abatement

Posted by admin on Dec 8, 2009 in E. coli Prevention | 0 comments

Food safety officials believe the U.S. beef industry may be on the cusp of an important change that may reduce E. coli O157:H7 in the meat supply, but not wipe it out.

A recent New York Times story by reporter William Neuman says two vaccines for cattle — one made in Minnesota and the other in Canada — could be making their way to market after long bureaucratic delays in the government approval process. Ground-Beef-ecoli

The Minnesota vaccine, made by Epitopix, has preliminary Agriculture Department approval and will be used in the coming months in extensive trials to see how effective it is at making cattle immune to the organism. Scientists believe it could reduce the bacteria by 65 percent to 75 percent, which might be enough to prevent the typical surge of outbreaks in the summer — a time when the germ is best suited for colonization.

E. coli O157:H7 lives in the intestines of cattle without harming them. During the slaughter process, the microbes can land on meat cuts and survive inside the center of a hamburger if not cooked to 160 degrees. Once ingested by a human, the pathogen emits large quantities of a potent toxin that severely damage the lining of the intestine.

In 5 percent to 15 percent of cases, a victim of infection develops a complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can be life threatening and has long-term negative health consequences for its victims.

The Times story said development of E. coli O157:H7 vaccines would be further along by now, but there was an 18-month delay in the approval process while the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department clashed over whose job it was to handle the approvals.

The need has become more urgent as the number of ground beef E. coli recalls has grown to 52 since January 2007. In the preceding three years, there were 20 ground beef recalls.

Even if the two vaccines gain full approval (the Canadian vaccine has yet to receive preliminary approval), any chance of an impact depends on whether enough ranchers and farmers embrace the technology — which could cost $10 per animal, or more. The story quoted one rancher as saying the current profit margin on a single animal is only $25 to $35.

National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys will be monitoring the vaccines as they progress. We currently represent E. coli HUS victims and we are one of the few law firms in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation. Contact our firm at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) for a free case consultation. You may also complete our online contact and information form on the side of this page.

E coli Ground Beef Recalled from Restaurant

Posted by Kathy Will on Nov 17, 2009 in E. coli Recall | 0 comments

Fairbury Steaks Inc. of Fairbury, Nebraska, is recalling 90 pounds of fresh ground beef that it made Monday and distributed to a restaurant in Ruskin, Nebraska. The name of the restaurant was not published. thumbnail_grinder_w_beef

That’s the report in a ground beef recall notice published Tuesday by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The agency detected E. coli O157:H7 in the meat, which was packaged in 10-pound packages of “bulk fresh ground beef.”

The recalled meet is marked with USDA establishment number EST 5726 inside the USDA mark of inspection. The ground beef E. coli recall notice from FSIS said no illnesses have been reported in connection with the recalled product.

Anyone with E. coli O157:H7 symptoms should see a physician immediately. To review your legal rights, call an E. coli lawyer at Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete one of our online contact and information forms. Our firm will provide you with a free case consultation.

Rhode Island E coli Lawsuit Is 2nd from Outbreak

Posted by admin on Nov 17, 2009 in E. coli Outbreak | 0 comments

The family of an 11-year-old girl from Lincoln, Rhode Island, has filed a ground beef E. coli lawsuit against the company that supplied fresh hamburger meat to the Camp Bournedale nature camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Rhode-Island-E.-coli

According to the suit filed late last week in Plymouth Superior Court, Rhode Island Lincoln Middle School student Lynne Santos was one of more than 30 students and chaperones who were sickened after eating a meal of hamburgers during their school trip to Bournedale. The Santos child fell severely ill and was hospitalized for four days, according to the suit.

It is the second Lincoln Middle School E. coli lawsuit filed against the ground beef maker, South Shore Meats of Brockton, Massachusetts. As part of the public health investigation into the outbreak, investigators tested leftover hamburger meat from Camp Bournedale and found it contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. South Shore Meats and the USDA’s Food Safety an Inspection Service announced a recall of more than 1,000 pounds of the ground beef, which was mostly sold to commercial kitchens in New England.

The owner of Camp Bournedale has said since the outbreak that camp cooks will never again prepare hamburgers for visitors from fresh ground beef, which is a common vehicle of transmission for E. coli O157:H7. Nationwide, there have been 18 ground beef E. coli outbreaks since 2007, all resulting in lawsuits. The most recent came just after the Camp Bournedale illnesses. The multi-state Fairbank Farms E. coli outbreak has sickened at least 25 people in 10 states, killing two and causing at least three cases of E. coli HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication of E. coli infection.

Fairbank Farm E. coli Recall Widens to More Stores

Posted by admin on Nov 9, 2009 in E. coli Outbreak | 0 comments

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has expanded the list of retailers involved in the Fairbank Farms ground beef recall. The ground beef E. coli outbreak has resulted in two deaths, about two dozen confirmed illnesses and the recall of more than half a million pounds of ground beef products. Rhode-Island-E.-coli

If you or e a loved one have been victimized by this outbreak and you need information about your legal rights, contact national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our contact and information form.

Here’s the updated list of stores that distributed the potentially contaminated ground beef. All product is believed to be consumed or in consumers’ freezers by now because it had sell-by dates marked for late September. The suspect ground beef is marked by USDA establishment number EST 492 in the USDA mark of inspection.