Whole Foods Pulls All Ground Beef From Shelves For E. Coli Contamination
Whole Foods just recalled
all the ground beef on its shelves, in connection with an E.coli outbreak. The source of the outbreak is Nebraska Beef, which is one of the U.S.' largest meatpackers. This isn't the first time Nebraska Beef has had contamination problems.
The meat Whole Foods recalled came from Coleman Natural Foods, which unbeknownst to Whole Foods had processed it at Nebraska Beef, an Omaha meatpacker with a history of food-safety and other violations. Nebraska Beef last month recalled more than 5 million pounds of beef produced in May and June after its meat was blamed for another E. coli outbreak in seven states. On Friday it recalled an additional 1.2 million pounds of beef produced on June 17, June 24 and July 8, which included products eventually sold to Whole Foods. The recall is not related to the recent spate of E. coli illnesses among Boy Scouts at a gathering in Goshen, Va.
Whole Foods officials are investigating why they were not aware that Coleman was using Nebraska Beef as a processor, spokeswoman Libba Letton said.
The chain's managers took action after Massachusetts health officials informed them Aug. 1 that seven people who had gotten sick from E. coli O157:H7 had all bought ground beef from Whole Foods. The same strain has sickened 31 people in 12 states, the District and Canada.
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From September 2002 to February 2003, USDA shut down the plant three times for problems such as feces on carcasses, water dripping off pipes onto meat, paint peeling onto equipment and plugged-up meat wash sinks, according to agency records.
It is outrageous that
Americans are being subjected to these health risks when the technology to keep food safe is easily available. It is time that the U.S. government made food safety a priority. And the USDA needs to shut down Nebraska Beef until further notice.
