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USDA Delayed Recall Of Tainted Beef

18 days passed while agency waited for test results

October 5, 2007

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The recall of nearly 22 million pounds of ground beef from the Topps Meat Company proved to be the second largest in U.S. history but the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is under fire for an 18-day delay in issuing a warning about the E. coli-tainted hamburger patties.

USDA officials concede they knew there might be a problem with the frozen patties, but were unable to attain conclusive proof right away. Informed on September 7 that Topps hamburger patties had tested positive for the E. coli bacteria, the FSIS initiated its own tests.

Officials say that first round of tests indicated the presence of E. coli in some of the beef, but was inconclusive.

A second, more sophisticated test was ordered. Officials say it was September 25 before they had the results in hand that allowed them to initiate the recall. The recall was ultimately expanded to 21.7 million pounds of beef on September 29.

Dr. David Goldman, USDA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science, says the original complaint came from a consumer on August 31, reporting that his daughter had gotten sick after eating a hamburger. USDA agents removed remaining beef patties from the consumer’s freezer for testing.

“On September the 7th, our agency reported out a positive E. Coli 0157 test result from the product left over from that patient's freezer,” Goldman told reporters in a teleconference.

“We were not able to take recall action based on this initial test because there are often many strains of E. Coli that can contaminate products. In this case we did have 0157, but we wanted to do as we ordinarily do, further testing to characterize this pathogen and determine definitively that it was linked to the patient's illness,” he said.

In the meantime, at least 29 consumers in eight states reported E. coli infections that matched the strain found in the Topps hamburgers, according to the Center for Disease Control. USDA officials say the department will take necessary steps to speed up tainted-meat warnings in the future.

Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA’s Undersecretary for FSIS, says the agency has conducted an assessment of the agency’s inspection activities at the New Jersey plant that produced the tainted beef.

“The assessment found that the plant's E. Coli 0157:H7 controls were inadequate and FSIS subsequently issued a notice of suspension for the raw ground processes on September 26,” Raymond said. “As of today the company has ceased all operations.”

The frozen ground beef products were produced on various dates over the last 12 months and were distributed to food service institutions in the New York metropolitan area and to retail establishments nationwide.

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