Meat... and Danger

[imoldernu]

12 million pounds of meat are being recalled.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/12/04/ground-beef-recall-jbs-tolleson-expands-12-million-pounds/2200515002/

The USDA said the meat was sold at stores nationwide. The packages have an establishment number "EST. 267" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The USDA has found as many as 246 people from 26 states have gotten sick.

Interesting stuff...
So i decided to look to see if any of the meat was in my refrigerator. How would I know? I found some hamburg that had not been opened, and looked for the USDA mark of inspection, that said EST. 267.
Sure enough, there was a USDA seal, but no number.

That confused me, so I called the USDA, to find out what the story was.
Told the rep that there was no number. she suggested I call the store. The USDA doesn't require the number I found out.

What?

Why do we have a USDA... How can a recall be made. Does that mean every person who has meat in the refrigerator has to call their store? Does it mean that you have meat in your refrigerator you should throw it out? Fortunately, I only had 3 pounds and it only cost $8.59.

How much would we save if there was no USDA?

I am definitely too old for this stuff. good luck if you decide to use meat that doesn't have a "number" on it.

Hundreds of products are on the list. The USDA said the meat was packaged between July 26 and Sept. 7. They have an establishment number "EST. 267" inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Does your meat have an "Establishment number"? And if something happened between September 7 and today... and you have no "Est. #... you may have to wait until the warning appears in the news.

Best of luck....

 

[njhowie]

Why do we have a USDA... How can a recall be made. Does that mean every person who has meat in the refrigerator has to call their store? Does it mean that you have meat in your refrigerator you should throw it out? Fortunately, I only had 3 pounds and it only cost $8.59.

How much would we save if there was no USDA?

I am definitely too old for this stuff. good luck if you decide to use meat that doesn't have a "number" on it.

Does your meat have an "Establishment number"? And if something happened between September 7 and today... and you have no "Est. #... you may have to wait until the warning appears in the news.

Best of luck....

If you have any concern with what you have purchased, simply take it back to where you purchased it and they should give you back your money no questions asked. Recently, all of the markets (at least where we live) have cleared their shelves of Romaine, simply out of caution - whether or not it came from the affected regions. I had purchased some Romaine earlier in the week from Walmart, simply dropped it off when I was passing by one evening and they gave me back the money, no questions asked.

I would assume the same procedure is being done most everywhere with anything flagged for recall ... whether yours was included or not. It's a matter of caution and customer service. If you want to return it and the counter person gives any hassle (which they likely will not) then ask for the manager.

Thankfully we have no recently purchased fresh meat in the house - it's all in the freezer purchased months ago.

 

[MRG]

My meat has a different number. Thanks for posting this as I don't want to eat food that makes me Ill, ever again.

 

[audreyh1]

I don’t buy ground beef, and I don’t have any beef in the freezer. Thank goodness!

 

[W2R]

I almost don't care.

We have been without romaine for quite some time now, due to that CDC directive. I haven't heard of even one person in our state getting sick (from romaine, or from meat for that matter), and to me it would have to be quite a few to justify the actions taken.

Today I had a small Caesar salad (my "go to" lunch on this weight loss regimen). I didn't have any for days due to the romaine problem. But I missed it dreadfully so I today had some that was made with no romaine for the second day in a row. And I have heard that even the CDC is saying romaine is fine if it isn't from California. Probably the restaurant we go to had no idea where their romaine was from, but anyway they aren't serving any yet.

I'm fed up. I rebel. The inner me is nearly as angry as the French yellow-vests. I want my romaine! I doubt that my meat meets those criteria so it is probably not covered by this recall. None of it is ground beef. Either way, I'm not giving up my meat. At least, I'm not until I hear of somebody within a 100 mile radius from here getting sick from it.

I think the CDC needs to review and make sure that all warnings are justified, and that there is real and substantial likelihood of danger for all who are warned, prior to issuing these warnings.

 

[NW-Bound]

If I use it in my Bolognese meat sauce which I cook for hours, will that take care of the nasty E. coli?

 

[athena53]

I finally used some 2-year old ground beef in my freezer when DS and DDIL were here with the kids- I made chili so it cooked for hours. Thankfully, no one got sick.

DH loved to open up a pack of fresh ground beef when we got home from the grocery store, spread it on crackers and eat it. Yes, I told him he was nuts. It caught up with him in Paris, of all places, when he had Steak Tartare at the restaurant in the Louvre. Fortunately it was only a case of the runs which was gone by morning.

 

[NW-Bound]

Noooo... No raw ground meat for me ever.

 

[imoldernu]

me worry? no...

FWIW, it really wasn't a question of me worrying. Thanks, everybody, for trying to help. but the post wasn't a personal thing. I think some may have missed the point.

The question was about the rules governing food, and what kind of an operation the USDA is. Did you read the article? Did you realize that the problem was discovered in 26 states? Whether you personally have meat in the freezer or not, consider the greater issue.

The article talks about the USDA seal, and infers that if one were to look at the number on the seal. But... the meat doesn't require the number to be on the seal. 12 million pounds is a lot of meat. That wasn't in the article.

So... did you check for the seal on meat in your freezer? Did it have a number? The romaine lettuce basically set off a panic. Stores did the prudent thing, and threw out the lettuce. It happened in a few weeks.

So... now... with 12 million pounds of meat being "Somewhere" did your supermarket throw out all of the meat that didn't have a number on the seal...

And... if there was no number on the seal, and did they throw out ALL of the meat in their freezers? All of the meat in every store? The US produces 76 million pounds of meat per day. Americans average eating 222 pounds of meat per year per person.

The meat in question was packaged 3 to 4 months ago,and the problem is only now coming in to the news. What if the problem continued into production in September and October, and hasn't yet hit the market?

Vegans, , rejoice

edit: after posting the article, I went back to the news... in 20 minutes, this article showed up... 5.1 million more pounds of tainted meat.

http://ktar.com/story/2339008/phoenix-area-meat-processing-plant-recalls-more-possibly-tainted-beef/

Symptoms and ages of people who are affected:

The most common symptoms of salmonellosis are diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after eating the contaminated product.
The majority of people recover from salmonella without treatment but they could be sick for as long as a week.
Older adults, infants and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop a severe illness.

 

[NW-Bound]

Vegans, , rejoice

As long as they do not eat any veggie with E. coli either? I guess all they can eat is just bread?

edit: after posting the article, I went back to the news... in 20 minutes, this article showed up... 5.1 million more pounds of tainted meat.

Phoenix-area meat processing plant recalls more possibly tainted beef

Yikes, that's where I live. But all that means is no hamburger. My Bolognese meat sauce is still safe to make. Or sloppy joe. Or meat loaf, etc...

From the above link:

... Consumers can also protect themselves from getting sick in the future by cooking raw meat to a safe internal temperature using a food thermometer and washing their hands after handling raw meat.

 

[imoldernu]

And... a post from January that explains a lot about the delay in announcing a problem. About FDA food recalls.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/01/02/fda-food-recalls-still-too-slow-editorials-debates/993481001/

 

[Bir48die]

Cook all hamburger thoroughly. End of story

 

[audreyh1]

If I use it in my Bolognese meat sauce which I cook for hours, will that take care of the nasty E. coli?

Yes, simmering a long time should take care of both E. coli and Salmonella.

I don’t find ground beef very flavorful. I prefer ground veal or ground lamb in my ragúes.

 

[NW-Bound]

Cook all hamburger thoroughly. End of story

But, but, but well-done hamburgers are not tasty.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We sold our freezer so with just the refrigerator freezer meat is not very old.

 

[Sunset]

It really is a problem, shown by the romaine issue.
They couldn't track it at all.

This happened previously in IL, folks got sick from tomatoes, but they couldn't say which/where/etc. So we stopped buying tomatoes.

I threw out my romaine, rather than return it, yet at the grocery store I saw it was still for sale prior to the (only central CA unsafe) message.

 

[NW-Bound]

By the way, it used to be that cooking to 140F would kill E. coli. Then, they found some strain of E. coli that could survive that temperature. Now, they recommend 160F as a safe temperature.

At 160F, hamburger patties are not very tasty. Meat sauce and ragu will be up to 212F if you bring it to boiling. Perfectly safe. Dig in.