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Tag: tainted beef

  • Beef Recall: Over 4,000 Pounds Of Beef Recalled

    Fruitland American Meat, a company out of Missouri, has recalled over 4,000 pounds of ground beef out of fear that it may contain portions of nervous system that can carry properties related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

    Mad cow disease is fatal in cows and humans. It is contracted by eating tainted beef and can lead to a degenerative brain disease with symptoms that include rapidly progressive dementia, leading to memory loss, personality changes and hallucinations.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that there is no indication that the meat being recalled has been tainted, but the company has chosen to issue the recall as a safety precaution.

    The beef was sold to stores in Connecticut and restaurants in New York City and Kansas City, Missouri.

    The USDA determined that the way the company judged the age of the cattle as they were slaughtering them could have led to the beef being tainted. In cows that are 30 months or older, the dorsal root ganglia within the nervous system have to be removed to prevent the disease from staying in the meat and being consumed.

    The company may have been inaccurate when judging the ages of some of the cows and left the ganglia in tact. These parts of the nervous system are where the prions that cause mad cow disease are most commonly found.

    There have not be any reports of mad cow disease symptoms from anyone who has consumed beef from the restaurants or stores where the beef was sold.

    The agency characterized the recall as a Class II recall, meaning there’s a “remote probability” of health problems associated with using the recalled product.

    The beef products that are included in the recall are, quartered beef carcasses stamped with the USDA mark of inspection and establishment number “EST. 2316,” and 80-lb. cases containing two cryovac packages of bone-in “Rain Crow Ranch Ribeye” bearing the establishment number “EST. 2316” inside the USDA mark of inspection with the following production dates printed on the box: 9/5/13, 9/10/13, 9/11/13, 9/26/13, 10/2/13, 10/3/2013, 11/8/13, 11/22/13, 12/17/13, 12/26/13, 12/27/13,1/16/14, 1/17/14, 1/23/14, 1/31/14, 2/13/14, 2/14/14, 2/21/14, 2/28/14, 3/8/14, 3/20/14, 4/4/14 or 4/25/14.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Beef Recall: Beware Of Beef, FDA Expands Recall

    Beef Recall: Beware Of Beef, FDA Expands Recall

    Tainted beef that was recalled earlier this year has been expanded from the previously thought six states, to include nearly 35 states, and many major grocery store outlets.

    The first recall consisted of beef from Rancho Feeding Corp., based in Petaluma, California, and entailed 8.7 million pounds of beef that should never have left the processing plant.

    According to the USDA, Rancho Feeding “processed diseased and unsound animals and carried out these activities without the benefit or full benefit of federal inspection.”

    “Thus, the products are adulterated, because they are unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food and must be removed from commerce,” the FSIS reported. The Petaluma company made the recall.

    Now, thousands of retailers have been added to a list of companies that could have received beef products from the producer in California since the February recall, the USDA said.

    “The retail list has been growing as more customers have been notified,” USDA spokesman Adam Tarr told CNN Friday. “The list could expand.”

    The USDA will continue to update the list so that the affected products can be removed from commerce, he said.

    The USDA has not received any reports of illness because of the recalled meat, they said in a statement issued in February. But it is a “Class I recall,” meaning it is a “health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”

    The recalled products were produced and shipped between January 1, 2013, and January 7, 2014. The USDA mark of inspection on them has “EST. 527” and their case code number ends in 3 or 4.

    There is a range of products that were recalled in addition to the millions of pounds of beef shipped in January. They include 30-pound boxes of beef tips, mountain oysters and sweetbreads, as well as 40-pound boxes of veal bones and 60-pound boxes of veal trim.

    For a complete list see: Detailed List of Recalled Products.

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