According to a letter in the Press Democrat, the beef produced at Rancho Feeding Corporation that was recalled for adulteration may have been sold to Jack in the Box fast food restaurants and others and ended up in hamburgers. The meat-grinding company that supplied the food chains recalled the product.
Officials believe that the beef has been consumed. The beef, which was originally recalled in February 2014, was considered adulterated because the government said the facility processed “diseased and unsound animals” without the benefit of federal inspection. Rancho Feeding Corporation has said the USDA report is unfounded, and has not commented on this recent report.
The retail list for the recall lists almost 6,000 stores in 35 states. No restaurants are on that list, which identifies only retail outlets and other suppliers such as food shelf pantries and schools. Secondary recalls of products made with recalled beef include Nestle Hot Pockets, Krave Beef Jerky, Farmer John beef wieners, Tillamook Country Smoker Jerky, ground beef sold at Kroger, WestCoast Grassfed beef, and frozen hamburger patties sold at Walmart stores.
No illnesses have been reported in connection with these recalled products, but we still don’t know what diseases the animals may have had. Many fast food corporations test their beef for microbial contamination such as E. coli 0157:H7, but if the animals had cancer or some other disease, that would not have shown up in their tests.
I can’t believe we have been purchasing beef from Fast Food Restaurants and Grocery stores and were not told sooner about recalled beef. This leads me to believe that any frozen beef I have in my freezer may or may not be healthy. I’m going to have to throw it all away and waste hundreds of dollars now-and also I may quit eating beef because this recall makes me sick to my stomach. I also will have to quit eating any food from restaurants,because I can’t trust any of the meat being sold.