E. Coli Kills Topps, USDA Caught Flatfooted

Topps Meat Company, LLC, of Elizabeth, NJ, went out of business after the recall of 21.7 million pounds of beef linked to 30 cases of E. coli-related illness. “In one week we have gone from the largest US manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large,” Anthony D’Urso, chief operating officer, said in a statement issued on Friday. No one died from eating the tainted meat, but it has killed Topps.

Bill Marler, a lawyer who represents E. coli victims, said, “It appears that significant food safety errors and omissions that occurred repeatedly for over a year are what led to this closure. Remember, 21.7 million pounds of hamburger has been recalled. That is one year’s production . . . . It is inconceivable to me that of 87 Topps employees and managers, not one of them caught the mistake – which apparently happened every day for a year – that allowed E. coli to enter the plant and potentially contaminate ground beef products.”

He’s quite right. This is a case of negligence, if not legally, then certainly morally. Someone at Topps screwed up plain and simple. However, it isn’t just Topps. The American food inspection system, needs a shot in the arm. It’s understaffed and under-funded, and that situation is partially responsible for the length of time it took to get the recall underway.

Published reports say that tests confirmed the presence of E. coli bacteria in a package of Topps frozen hamburgers as early as September 7, but the USDA did not issue a recall order for Topps ground beef until September 25. Meanwhile, the first case of E. coli related to Topps was reported on July 5. The department couldn’t trace the source of the problem.

In fact, the USDA wasn’t even the first body to issue a recall. The New York Department of Health that first published a safety alert on September 25, beating the USDA by hours. Moreover, Florida investigators made the September 7 discovery, not the Feds. Topps is gone, but the problems remain.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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