Meat Company Forced To Recall Ground Beef May Have Been Wrongfully Accused
On November 17, 2009, Fairbury Steaks issued a voluntary and precautionary recall of fresh ground beef. The recall followed an announcement by FSIS that routine regulatory samples collected from the processor had tested positive for E. coli O157:H7. But, did FSIS make a mistake? And, was Fairbury wrongfully accused?
The sample collected by FSIS was taken from a 90 pound batch of finished product. The finished product was processed by Fairbury using frozen beef from another supplier. The frozen beef was sold to Fairbury with a certificate of analysis, documenting that it had been tested for E. coli, and that all tests were negative. In turn, all 90 pounds, once ground, were destined for a single Nebraska restaurant.
According to Dennis Brown, Fairbury’s owner, the ground beef collected for the routine FSIS sampling was collected from a single bag. The contents of the bag were then split in half – one half for FSIS and one half for Midwest Laboratories of Omaha (Fairbury’s own, third-party lab). According to Brown, Fairbury learned on November 14, 2009 that its sample was negative. Three days later, however, the USDA reported that its sample was positive.
What to do? Well, based solely upon its own testing, FSIS urged Fairbury to recall all 90 pounds of ground beef shipped to the Nebraska restaurant. Click on the following link to view the FSIS Recall Release. And, although the company followed FSIS’ recommendation, Fairbury was not convinced that its meat was contaminated with E. coli.
To satisfy its own concerns, Fairbury recovered all 90 pounds of ground beef it had shipped to the Nebraska restaurant. The company then took samples from each of the nine packages that were returned, and had all nine samples tested by Midwest.
To assure the integrity of sampling, two FSIS representatives watched Brown cut open the nine packages of recalled beef, collect the nine samples, and then ship the samples to Midwest. In turn, all the samples from all the packages, plus a sample from a replacement shipment to the customer (which was included in the collection), tested negative for E. coli.
Although a negative result does not necessarily prove the absence of the pathogen, the numerous and multiple negative test results from the recalled product raise significant questions about the reliability and limits of regulatory testing, the potential for mistakes in governmental laboratories, and the amount of safe product companies are, in some instances, being asked to destroy. Although this recall involved only 90 pounds, the next may involve 900,000.
When asked about the contradictory test results, Brown admitted he's a bit confused. Given the number of negative samples from the recalled product, Brown believes that FSIS either had a false positive or there was cross-contamination in the government's lab.
Unfortunately, Neil Gaffney, a spokesman for FSIS, declined to comment on either possibility – including the history or extent of FSIS false positives.
Thus, in the absence of any response, it appears that the real answer in this case, like the ground beef that was recalled, could potentially have been a bit too much (for at least some) to swallow...
