Well it has happened again, but this time it is one of the biggest recalls of ground meat in the history of the United States. 21.7 million pounds of burger, contaminated with E.coli, has been found unfit for human consumption. The Topps Food Company spokesman tells us, “because the products may have been produced up to a year ago, many of them have already been safely consumed.” WHAT! I’m sorry, but what is your definition of safe? Did little Johnny have a bad case of diarrhea after eating burgers one night and did sister vomit and have flu-like symptoms after a meat loaf dinner?
Topps is being investigated. But the real issue here is where did all that nasty meat come from and how long did it sit before it was frozen? How big is too big when a company is producing your food? With 21.7 million pounds of beef coming out of one plant inspectors would have to be too numerous to count. How is the meat handled? Well, an investigation is underway, but will we ever hear the outcome? If you weren’t affected, then you probably won’t care, but if your child, mother, husband gets a dose of E. coli, they might just feel poorly for a while, or they could die. E.coli is a nasty bactirium that causes diarrhea and other serious complications.
Our country has to reshape, reform, and rethink our food supply industry. 21.7 million pounds of meat means a lot of cows were run through the savages of the slaughterhouse and now their sacrifice is for naught. But that is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Pilgrim’s Pride had to recall 27 million pounds of poultry in 2002. Good thing the CEO’s of Topps Food and Pilgrim’s Pride don’t live and more importantly work in China.
The warning here is to buy clean, safe food. Just because food is for the masses doesn’t mean it has to be poorly produced. With each and every recall I hope America gets a little smarter, demanding better quality for themselves and the animals that become those many millions of pounds of product.
October 4, 2007 at 1:41 pm
This is good information. One thing I’m realizing is that better standards as a whole are required, because we often don’t have control over the sources of what we eat. At home we can buy organic and more or less make decisions about the process. But when you grab breakfast on the road or stop for lunch at a burger joint, you’re really just rolling the dice. It seems like most cases are these kinds of “sorry we made people sick” level of problem, but they also reveal that there is a bigger issue with the system as whole which is just too big to monitor.
October 4, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Agribusiness, factory farming, it’s just too big, with too much oversight, and then there is the profit margin everyone is concerned about in our country (and other countries as well). E.coli happens so often that even when we buy lettuce or spinach we are at risk for contamination.
October 11, 2007 at 1:35 am
Interesting post, interesting blog, and good points by jamdan. I find I can avoid the burger joints, but then find myself wondering while I’m eating lasagna out….