ANOTHER BEEF RECALL BECAUSE OF E.COLI BACTERIA

And here's yet another beef product recall in the U.S. You may remember that we had one a week ago, that originated in Texas (see earlier post). This one started in beautiful California. They both involve E.coli 0157:H7 -the most common of the dangerous E.coli bacteria.

Since it is late, this is the third recall post of today, and my dog is waiting for a walk, let me get to the facts. Manning Beef, LLC, a Pico Rivera, Calif. establishment, has had to recall about 80,000 pounds of beef products because testing turned up too many E. coli O157:H7.

The recalled products include a variety of beef primal and subprimal cuts (such as top round and tri tip) and manufacturing trimmings. These products do not go directly to our store shelves. They are are used for further processing by retailers and food service establishents, for example, for hamburger meat. Apparently they were shipped to Arizona, California and Nebraska.

When they have it, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS) is going to post the list of retailers selling the potentially-contaminated final beef products on their website at www.fsis.usda.gov/FSIS_Recalls/Open_Federal_Cases/index.asp. If you are worried - check it out.

In the meantime, cook your beef well!

To your good health,
TSF

WHY WE DON'T WANT E.COLI IN SCHOOL LUNCHES

This week's recall of E.coli 0157-contaminated beef, meant for school lunches in Georgia (see previous post), reminds me again that institutional food tends to be more deadly. We don't want this dangerous E.coli anywhere in our food. But having it in the meat destined for the school cafeterias is even worse. Here are three reasons why.

First, food stored and produced in large quantities is more likely to not get as cold as it needs to throughout, or reach the no-risk temperature it should reach to kill such bacteria. This applies to all institutional food, not just to that served in schools.

Secondly, because of budgetary constraints, many schools, particularly in some districts, have inadequate or poorly functioning equipment, such as refrigerators and cooking equipment. This increases the preceding risks.

Thirdly, studies have shown that school children who become ill with food poisoning at school frequently pass it on to their siblings, and especially younger siblings, at home. This bacteria can be particularly dangerous for such younger children.

For these three - and other reasons - it is especially important to make sure that any food served to school children is not just healthy, but safe for them to eat.

To your good health,

TSF

MORE RADIOACTIVE BEEF IN JAPAN

As I expected (see previous posts on this issue), more cattle in Japan have been found to have very high levels of radiation. This is bad news, but let me say right away for those readers from Japan: a few meals of this radiation-contaminated beef are unlikely to seriously affect your health. You would have to eat it regularly for a longer time.

The total number of cattle shipped now appears to be 648 from Fukushima Prefecture, plus about another 24 from Niigata Prefecture (this total is bound to increase further). At least 8 farms are involved. All are reported to have fed radiation-contaminated straw to the cattle. This straw was collected near the crippled Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant after the recent nuclear catastrophe. That is, it was exposed to radiation from the atmosphere. Some of it has been found to have extremely high levels of the radioactive isotope caesium.

So where did the contaminated beef end up? Basically, it was distributed widely in Japan. According to The Mainichi Daily News, of the cows from Fukushima farms, 199 were shipped to Tokyo, 192 to Hyogo Prefecture, nine to Gunma Prefecture, eight distributed within Fukushima Prefecture, two went to Tochigi Prefecture and one to Saitama Prefecture. The authorities are still tracing these shipments further and finding out if the meat has actually been sold to consumers or to institutional clients.

What this incident is also showing is that farmers in Japan are out of the post-disaster information loop. Six of the seven from Fukushima Prefecture said they hadn't even heard that they weren't supposed to feed their cattle straw that that been stored outside! I hope this situation is being addressed. If these cattle farmers hadn't heard, most likely others haven't either, and there is bound to be more contaminated feed around - including for other food animals and poultry.

To your good health,

TSF

RADIATION-CONTAMINATED BEEF IN STORES

On July 7, I reported about high levels of radiation found in some beef cattle from Fukushima prefecture in Japan ("Why Radiation-Contaminated Cattle are Bad News"). These cattle were raised about 20-30km away from the radiation-spewing nuclear power plant. I also noted that testing had caught the problem before the beef reached the market. Not so. The initial reports were wrong. Some of this beef, with 3-6 times allowed levels of the radionuclide, cesium, has been sold - and eaten. At least 2,650 pounds of it. Consumers in Japan are not happy. With reason.

In fact, it turns out that the contaminated meat has not just been sold in Tokyo, but in at least 13 prefectures of Japan (maybe more). Japan's second-biggest retailer, Aeon Co. admitted today to selling the beef. It's not the only one. The cattle had been fed rice straw tainted with radiation, in spite of the farmer's claims that he was very careful about cattle feed.

New bans and better testing are in the works. Consumers are suffering, and so are farmers, distributors, retailers. As far as we know at present, the suspect beef has not been exported to other countries. Japanese food exports are already down as a result of bans on many products in a number of countries. This will make the situation worse.

Unfortunately, with food contamination events, the news invariably gets worse than in the initial reports: more products are found to be contaminated, hazardous food is found to have been distributed more widely than initially thought, more people become ill. And, on occasions, dangerous food has been sold and eaten when we believed that testing had caught it in time. As in this case.

Is more bad news to come? My guess: as testing is expanded, high levels of cesium will soon be found in more cattle and in other food animals and poultry (read the four questions I raise in the July 7th post).

To your good health,
TSF