NEW JERSEY: USDA papers: Burger recall followed riskier procedures - (Fort Mill Times)
June 8, 2008 – 6:37 pmNEWARK, N.J. — While the Topps Meat Co. churned out millions of frozen hamburgers a month, beef ground one day was often stored and “reworked” with meat from another production cycle, government documents show.
A conveyor belt that moved raw patties to packaging was marred by “gouges, cracks and tears,” inspectors said. They found residue on surfaces that fresh meat came into contact with.
But the plant kept operating, until an outbreak of E. coli last summer and fall sickened at least 40 people in eight states and led to one of the nation’s largest beef recalls.
The story says that documents obtained by The Associated Press and interviews show that the now-defunct company cut back on testing for the dangerous pathogens and disregarded sanitary issues, but also that federal food inspectors overlooked crucial evidence that Topps used risky processing procedures and operated under a flawed food safety plan.
For the complete news item, […]
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