| Nebraska Beef has just expanded its beef recall - and Whole Foods Market just realized that some of their ground beef came from Nebraska Beef. Oops.
Details on Whole Foods:
The recall of Whole Foods Market ground beef sold between June 2 and Aug. 6 has shed a new spotlight on Nebraska Beef of Omaha, one of the country's largest meatpackers. Whole Foods has said it did not know that its vendor, Coleman Natural Foods, had used Nebraska Beef to process the meat.
What a screwed up system we have. I'd like to know what actually happened here. This article makes it appear that the 5.3 million pounds Nebraska Beef recalled from May and June were a different E. coli outbreak from this one. That time people got sick in 7 states. This time the Nebraska Beef E. coli outbreak has sickened 31 people in 12 states, DC, and Canada, resulting in a new recall of 1.2 million pounds of ground beef. And this is all just a continuing saga...
-- US Department of Agriculture shut down the plant three times in 2002 and 2003 for problems such as feces on carcasses, water dripping off pipes onto meat, paint peeling onto equipment and plugged-up meat wash sinks.
--In 2004 and early 2005, Nebraska Beef was written up at least five times for not removing brains or spinal cords from the food supply, as required. The company corrected the problems. Those parts may be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
--US inspectors in August 2006 threatened to suspend Nebraska Beef operations for not following requirements for controlling E. coli. The company corrected the problem a week later, USDA records show.
--Also in 2006, Minnesota health officials blamed Nebraska Beef for sickening 17 people who ate meatballs at a church potluck in rural Minnesota. Several victims filed lawsuits against Nebraska Beef, including the family of a woman who died. |
