Topps meat found in NJ stores after recall
Associated Press reporter Jeff Gold authored a story that appeared in today's issue of Newsday and focuses on the inefficiencies and holes in the Topps Meats E. coli recall. The story begins:
Meat recalled a month ago that could be contaminated with a potentially fatal bacteria was found in seven northern New Jersey stores, state consumer safety officials said Tuesday.
Inspectors in the past week have seized 138 boxes of frozen hamburgers made by Topps Meat Co., which issued a nationwide recall on Sept. 29 for 21.7 million pounds of frozen patties.
State authorities have not determined when the meat was delivered to the stores.
Four of the stores, all in Jersey City, were located after a distributor was subpoenaed by the state Division of Consumer Affairs and provided shop names and locations, agency spokesman Jeff Lamm said.
Inspectors found the other three while visiting nearly 200 stores in Hudson County, he said.
On September 25, 2007, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that Topps Meat Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was recalling 331,582 pounds of frozen ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The company's ground beef products had been identified as the source of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak among residents of New York, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
At least six people in New York had become ill with E. coli infections after eating Topps Meats' ground beef, and the investigation into these illnesses by the New York Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was what led to the resulting recall.
By September 29, 2007, Topps Meats had expanded the recall to a total of 21.7 million pounds of frozen ground beef products produced on various dates between September 25, 2006 and September 25, 2007. On October 11, 2007, the CDC announced that 38 confirmed illnesses had been tied to the outbreak in 9 states: Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
FSIS issued an outbreak update on October 26, 2007, and announced that a joint investigation between FSIS and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had identified meat trim provided to Topps by Canadian company Ranchers Beef Ltd. as the source of the outbreak.
The recalled products were sold under Topps brand as well as Pathmark, ShopRite, Mike's, Kohler Foods, Rastelli's Fine Foods, Roma-Topps, Sam's Choice, Sand Castle, and West Side labels. All recalled products will have a USDA establishment number of EST 9748 on the back panel of the package or in the USDA logo.
Meat recalled a month ago that could be contaminated with a potentially fatal bacteria was found in seven northern New Jersey stores, state consumer safety officials said Tuesday.
