E. coli super strain behind recalls

Oct. 6, 2007 - Friday, Oct. 5, was not a good day for meat lovers. The first recall in its 67-year history proved to be the last for the Topps Meat Co., which claimed to be the country’s largest producer of frozen hamburger patties. Topps shut its doors for good Friday after an E. coli outbreak that infected at least 30 people in eight states was traced back to its Elizabeth, N.J., plant. In one of the largest recalls in the country’s history, 21.7 million pounds of frozen ground beef products that came from the plant over the past year—between Sept. 25, 2006, and Sept. 25, 2007—were voluntarily recalled after the United States Department of Agriculture (which does not actually have the authority to order recalls, but can halt production) served the company a “notice of intended enforcement.”

Later that same day, Sam’s Club announced that it was pulling frozen hamburgers made by agribusiness conglomerate Cargill Inc. from its shelves across the country. Minnesota health officials were investigating four cases of children infected with E. coli traced to the burgers. Sam’s Club owner Wal-Mart Stores Inc. issued a statement saying the warehouse club is removing the American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef patties from U.S. locations and giving refunds to customers who already purchased the burgers.

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E. coli super strain behind recalls

MINNEAPOLIS - The Sam’s Club warehouse chain has pulled a brand of ground beef patties from its shelves nationwide after four children who ate the food, produced by Cargill Inc., developed E. coli illness.

Cargill asked customers to return any remaining patties purchased after Aug. 26 to the store or destroy them.

The children became ill between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20 after eating ground beef patties that were bought frozen under the name American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties from three Sam’s Club stores in the Twin Cities area.

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Sam’s Club recalls beef over E. coli

Uh, maybe I’m wrong, I’m not a scientist or a doctor but according to what I have read and heard and seen on the news, wouldn’t all this E. coli stuff be eliminated by cooking the hamburger meat to at least 160° in the middle??

I have seen people eat rare and medium rare hamburger, I have seen my wife take a bite of RAW hamburger meat before, and when she did I went ballistic, it seems to me that the simple act of cooking the meat MEDIUM WELL or WELL DONE would be a heck of a lot more simple than taking a chance on getting sick, or worse…

Unless, uh, maybe this is the super virus that gets nearly ALL of us, like in Stephen King’s novel, The Stand, you never know…

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