http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html
Long story short: Young woman paralyzed by virulent form of e. coli. Cargill trying to shift blame to supplier. Upton Sinclair is spinning in his grave. Parts I found interesting below.
The retail giant Costco is one of the few big producers that tests trimmings for E. coli before grinding, a practice it adopted after a New York woman was sickened in 1998 by its hamburger meat, prompting a recall.
Craig Wilson, Costco’s food safety director, said the company decided it could not rely on its suppliers alone. “It’s incumbent upon us,” he said. “If you say, ‘Craig, this is what we’ve done,’ I should be able to go, ‘Cool, I believe you.’ But I’m going to check.”
And then this:
Costco said it had found E. coli in foreign and domestic beef trimmings and pressured suppliers to fix the problem. But even Costco, with its huge buying power, said it had met resistance from some big slaughterhouses. “Tyson will not supply us,” Mr. Wilson said. “They don’t want us to test.”
Followed by this:
The food safety officer at American Foodservice, which grinds 365 million pounds of hamburger a year, said it stopped testing trimmings a decade ago because of resistance from slaughterhouses. “They would not sell to us,” said Timothy P. Biela, the officer. “If I test and it’s positive, I put them in a regulatory situation. One, I have to tell the government, and two, the government will trace it back to them. So we don’t do that.”
Obviously, if we just get rid of the regulations, then we won't have to worry about slaughterhouses pushing back. Problem solved. (But wait, doesn't that mean no tests for a potentially harmful bacteria? Sure, but if enough people are paralyzed by Cargill's burgers, people will stop buying them. Invisible handjob ftw!)
Finally, this:
Dr. James Marsden, a meat safety expert at Kansas State University and senior science adviser for the North American Meat Processors Association, said the Department of Agriculture needed to issue better guidance on avoiding cross-contamination, like urging people to use bleach to sterilize cutting boards. “Even if you are a scientist, much less a housewife with a child, it’s very difficult,” Dr. Marsden said.
Actually, it isn't. You take a spray bottle, put in a tablespoon of bleach and 20oz of water, you use that on any surface that might get contaminated. It will be effective for about a week in the bottle, but I change mine out every three or four days to be safe. Bleach is cheap.
Long story short: Young woman paralyzed by virulent form of e. coli. Cargill trying to shift blame to supplier. Upton Sinclair is spinning in his grave. Parts I found interesting below.
The retail giant Costco is one of the few big producers that tests trimmings for E. coli before grinding, a practice it adopted after a New York woman was sickened in 1998 by its hamburger meat, prompting a recall.
Craig Wilson, Costco’s food safety director, said the company decided it could not rely on its suppliers alone. “It’s incumbent upon us,” he said. “If you say, ‘Craig, this is what we’ve done,’ I should be able to go, ‘Cool, I believe you.’ But I’m going to check.”
And then this:
Costco said it had found E. coli in foreign and domestic beef trimmings and pressured suppliers to fix the problem. But even Costco, with its huge buying power, said it had met resistance from some big slaughterhouses. “Tyson will not supply us,” Mr. Wilson said. “They don’t want us to test.”
Followed by this:
The food safety officer at American Foodservice, which grinds 365 million pounds of hamburger a year, said it stopped testing trimmings a decade ago because of resistance from slaughterhouses. “They would not sell to us,” said Timothy P. Biela, the officer. “If I test and it’s positive, I put them in a regulatory situation. One, I have to tell the government, and two, the government will trace it back to them. So we don’t do that.”
Obviously, if we just get rid of the regulations, then we won't have to worry about slaughterhouses pushing back. Problem solved. (But wait, doesn't that mean no tests for a potentially harmful bacteria? Sure, but if enough people are paralyzed by Cargill's burgers, people will stop buying them. Invisible handjob ftw!)
Finally, this:
Dr. James Marsden, a meat safety expert at Kansas State University and senior science adviser for the North American Meat Processors Association, said the Department of Agriculture needed to issue better guidance on avoiding cross-contamination, like urging people to use bleach to sterilize cutting boards. “Even if you are a scientist, much less a housewife with a child, it’s very difficult,” Dr. Marsden said.
Actually, it isn't. You take a spray bottle, put in a tablespoon of bleach and 20oz of water, you use that on any surface that might get contaminated. It will be effective for about a week in the bottle, but I change mine out every three or four days to be safe. Bleach is cheap.
