Washington Beef of Toppenish, Washington is recalling 1,620 pounds of boneless beef trim product that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. Companies that have received this product should not use it as it could cause serious illness. The recalled boneless beef product, produced on Nov. 28, 2012, was packaged in 60 lb. bulk packs marled “TRIM 65/35 (FZN)” with the establishment number “EST. 235” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The recalled product was shipped for further processing to a single grinding facility, then distributed to hotels, restaurants and institutional kitchens in Oregon and Washington. The company discovered the problem during an internal records audit and had not received reports of illness at the time of the recall. However, E. coli O157:H7 can cause … [Read more...]
Will USDA’s New E. coli Rule Lead to More Beef Recalls?
For the last few weeks, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has been using a new procedure to more quickly trace the source of ground beef that tests positive for E. coli. The change is meant to remove contaminated products from the market faster and prevent incidents of contamination from occurring. “A critical component of preventing foodborne illness is quickly identifying sources of contamination and removing unsafe products from store shelves,” said Brian Ronholm, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety. “The expedited traceback procedures being announced today will allow FSIS to take action more quickly, which will make a significant difference in food safety investigations and in preventing foodborne illnesses.” FSIS is now conducting immediate investigations … [Read more...]
USDA Announces New Traceback for Suspect Ground Beef
The USDA announced new traceback procedures that will let it trace contaminated ground beef or bench trim back to the source more quickly. Immediate investigations will be conducted at facilities where the product tests positive for E. coli O157:H7 during initial testing. The suppliers that provide the source materials for those products will also be investigated immediately. Government inspectors will be sent in as soon as USDA-FSIS gets a "presumptive positive result" and the facility in question provides information about their supplier. Before this new procedure, FSIS would investigate only after the presumptive positive test was confirmed, which can take up to 2 days. The supplier inspections would have taken place 30 days later. The procedure will "enable FSIS to better … [Read more...]
E. coli Recall: Veal Trimmings May be Contaminated
San Jose Valley Veal of California is recalling about 1,260 pounds of veal trimmings that may be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. There have been no reports of illness associated with the consumption of this product. The problem was discovered when a customer tested a shipment of the veal and reported "non-negative" results. The recalled product is 60 pound cardboard box cases of "SAN JOSE VALLEY VEAL AND BEEF INC." boneless beef veal trimmings. The boxes may contain case codes L-1 11112," "L-1 11212," "L-1 11512," "L-1 11612," "L-1 11712," "L-1 11812" or "L-1 11912" and may also bear the establishment number "EST. 2828" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The veal was produced between November 1 and November 9, 2012, and transported to a federal facility for further … [Read more...]
