Beef Recalls Extends Across East Coast

E. coli Fears Spark Recall of More than Half a Million Pounds of Ground Beef from N.Y. Company

(AP)  A New York meat company has recalled almost 546,000 pounds of ground beef because it may be contaminated with a bacteria that has caused illness and one death, according to health officials.

The meat sold by Ashville, N.Y.-based Fairbank Farms was linked to cases of E. coli-related illness in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Saturday. One person died and two others became ill, New Hampshire health officials said.

The ground beef was sold at Trader Joe's, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw's, BJ's, Ford Brothers and Giant stores. Each package carried the number "EST. 492" on the label. They were packaged Sept. 15-16 and may have been labeled with a sell-by date from Sept. 19 through Sept. 28.

Also, ground beef packaged under the Fairbank Farms name was distributed to stores in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. That meat was likely repackaged for sale and would likely have differing package and sell-by dates.

The USDA was urging customers with concerns to contact the stores where they bought the meat.

Located in the southwestern corner of New York a few miles from the Pennsylvania line, Fairbank Farms has had two other voluntary recalls over the last two years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

In September 2007, the company recalled 884 pounds of ground beef products because they may have been contaminated with E. coli, the agency said. And in May 2008, it recalled 22,481 pounds of ground beef products that may have contained pieces of plastic.

Symptoms of E. coli include stomach cramps that may be severe and diarrhea that may turn bloody within one to three days. E. coli can sometimes lead to complications including kidney failure.

Symptoms usually show up three to four days after a person eats contaminated food, although in some cases it can be as long as eight days. Officials said anyone having symptoms should immediately contact a doctor.

[edgy44]

546,000 pounds of beef is probably about a 1000 head of cattle.

[anti-global3]

export this beef to China. Then when they get sick and start daying tell them paybacks are a b i t c h

[edgy44]

Never eat commercial ground beef less than fully cooked. This is not raw meat like a steak, this is an assembly line process where ground meat has fat added to it from two different sources. The two parts may not be done the same day, only combined on the same day. This stuff has to be fully cooked, but it is best left for poor people and animals to eat. If you can afford gas, you can afford local meats from a local butcher.

[misslyta]

Oh so its ok for POOR people to eat this bad hamburger right?
What a stupid ludicrous remark from an obviously uneducated,
unfeeling person! This attitude it whats wrong with people today.

[I_am_me1953]

The story is about E.coli in groud beef, but the photo is about sirloin steak.

I'll continue to have my steak very rare, with sutures on the side so it can be replaced if over-cooked TY.

[door331]

you know what else you could do? cook your damn meat properly. if your meat is pink in the center it is not cooked fully. try again.

[thesevenveils]

Stores could go back to having a full time butcher. One trims and cuts whole sides of beef right there in the store.

As been shown with something a safe as peanuts, mass producing food on a large scale produces massive problems. It has happened with just about every food product that has been prepared in a mass production environment. Contaminated food from mass production is not a case of if, but a case of when.

[roach9703]

My wife and I had stayed away from hamburger meat for some time. Here again is why. The flavor has been less than wonderful for some time. This seems like the sick chicken caper.

[thesevenveils]

I've noticed that so much water has been added to hamburger that it is hard to fry it. It steams itself before it begins to brown.

The consumer should fight against the legal practice of allowing food manufacturers to add water (or water solution) up to 5% by weight.

The beef we buy today has been soaking in water for more than a week before it is cut and packaged.

[edgy44]

Ground beef is unsafe unless you grind it yourself. The way the commercial mass-production companies do it is inherantly dangerous. Even on a good day your chances of getting sick are high. Grind your own, or buy it ground from a local meat market. This story will recur every few months because the process of adding fat to ground meat is unsafe. Stop buying ground beef unless you know the name of the man or woman who is doing it.