Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Whole Foods Recalls Beef Processed At Plant Long at Odds With USDA

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Whole Foods Recalls Beef Processed At Plant Long at Odds With USDA
  • Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:16:58 -0600


Whole Foods Recalls Beef Processed At Plant Long at Odds With USDA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802821.html?hpid=topnews

By Annys Shin and Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 10, 2008; Page A01

Whole Foods Market pulled fresh ground beef from all of its stores Friday,
becoming the latest retailer affected by an E. coli outbreak traced to
Nebraska Beef, one of the nation's largest meatpackers. It's the second
outbreak linked to the processor in as many months.

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.

So far, tests have not found contaminated Whole Foods beef, Letton said.
ad_icon

That was small comfort yesterday to some shoppers at the Whole Foods on P
Street NW.

"I shop here because the standards are higher, so yes, this really concerns
me," said Harry Harrison, 43, a District resident who shops almost
exclusively at Whole Foods and buys beef at the store about once a week.

This latest outbreak was first identified in late July among customers of
Dorothy Lane Market, a small Ohio grocery chain. Dorothy Lane also bought
meat from Coleman Natural Foods, which bought primal cuts -- meat intended
for steaks and roasts -- from Nebraska Beef. The E. coli strain found in the
Massachusetts Whole Foods customers matches that Ohio strain.

Nebraska Beef, which continues to operate, had already been under close
scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since late June.

William M. Lamson Jr., a Nebraska Beef spokesman, said the company and the
USDA had increased testing of its meat since then. It has found no E. coli
O157:H7 in products made since July 8.

He said that since June, Nebraska Beef has hired food safety consultants and
undertaken an in-depth review of its processes. USDA is doing the same.

"We will continue to investigate to see what is happening at the plant to see
what they have to do to get a handle on their food-safety issues," said
agency spokeswoman Laura Reiser.





  • [Livingontheland] Whole Foods Recalls Beef Processed At Plant Long at Odds With USDA, Tradingpost, 08/12/2008

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page