On December 25, 2007, the Maramont Corporation, a New York firm, recalled approximately 88 pounds of a beef patty product that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled beef patties may have been served at school cafeterias in the Jersey City, New Jersey, area. Learn more about the Maramont beef patty recall and a possible Maramont lawsuit.

Labels: Listeria, listeria attorney, listeria recall, New Jersey

According to the New Jersey Department of Law and Safety, a total of 138 boxes of frozen hamburger and beef products recalled by the Topps Meat Company because of potential E.coli contamination have been found on the shelves in seven stores in Hudson County.

Investigators from the Division of Consumers Affairs and inspectors from the Hudson County and municipal health departments jointly visited 197 retail stores since last Wednesday. Hudson County has been the focus since recalled products were found on the shelves of a Union City store.

"We remain concerned and vigilant because these items continue to be available for purchase and consumption despite the voluntary recall notice issued in September," Attorney General Milgram said. "This continues to be a public health issue. Both retailers and consumers should check their freezers for these recalled products."

The seven stores where the Topps-branded products were found are as follows:

Bargain World (aka Stop 1 Food Mart)
715 New York Avenue, Union City

Lucky Food Center (aka Boca Chica Mini Market)
6501 Park Avenue, West New York

Wayne Gusto Meat Market
190 Ocean Avenue, Jersey City

Super Good Luck Grocery
91 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Jersey City

8 New Brothers Super World
61 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Jersey City

La Mia Grocery
503A Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Jersey City

BergenLine Supermarket
8107 Bergenline Avenue, North Bergen

"With the assistance of Hudson County and municipal health officials, our investigators are continuing to check stores," Acting Director DeMarzo said. "We’re also working to identify other areas where these recalled products were distributed."

Greater New York Frozen Food Company has provided the names and locations of retailers who purchased products on the recall list from them after the company was served with a subpoena last week.

The recalled products were produced by Topps with a "sell by date" or "best if used by date" that falls between September 25, 2007 and September 25, 2008. This information may be found on the back panel of the package. All recalled products will have a USDA establishment number of EST 9748, which is located on the back panel of the package and/or in the USDA legend.

PritzkerOlsen has provided a complete list of recalled Topps hamburgers. Please check your freezer for any recalled hamburgers. If you have recalled hamburgers, DO NOT EAT THEM. If someone has eaten recalled hamburgers, do not throw away those remaining in the box. Label them “Do not eat” and wait for 10 days from the time any hamburgers were consumed. If no one gets sick, they can be thrown away or returned. If someone gets sick, get medical attention immediately. If someone is diagnosed with E. coli, contact PritzkerOlsen. Both the stools of the sickened person and the frozen hamburgers will need to be tested.

Labels: New Jersey, topps

In a recent press release from the USDA’ Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), new procedures and sampling techniques are being compiled into data in order to decrease the growing prevalence of Salmonella in our nation’s beef and poultry supply. According to a CDC report in 2006, Salmonella accounted for 38.6% of human foodborne illnesses, the greatest of all such pathogens. FSIS also launched their new protocol to deal with Salmonella in 2006. The initiative grouped production establishments into categories based on their rates of Salmonella with current regulations.

The categories for establishments are as follows, as stated in the report:

Category 2 establishments are those with sample set results above half but not exceeding the current standard for one or both of their most recent sample sets and Category 3 are those that are exceeding the current standards. Category 1 establishments have the lowest Salmonella rates of the three categories with sample set results at or below half of the current standards.

All the collected data from the establishments will be posted on the FSIS web site on March 28, 2008. The new compilation of data will shed more light on data already analyzed which shows differences in the third quarter of 2007 with the first quarter.

Eighty-four percent of turkey slaughter establishments are now Category 1, the other 16 percent are in Category 2. These numbers represent significant improvement from the first quarter of 2007 where 53 percent of establishments were in Category 1, 38 percent in Category 2 and three percent at Category 3. For broilers, the percentage of establishments in Category 1 is 73 percent and the percentage of establishments in Category 2 is 23 percent. This figure is up by ten percent from the first quarter of 2007. This is compared with only 35.5 percent of broiler establishments performing in Category 1 after the first quarter of 2006.

New technology such as new equipment, procedures, and processing techniques are also being tested at Category 1 establishments to measure their effectiveness at combating the presence of Salmonella. The partaking establishments take samples during every shift to be sent to FSIS for analysis.

Along with all of the data being collected and analyzed, FSIS has reexamined how to deal with smaller ground beef establishments that produce very little of the beef supply. Rather than taking the majority of test samples from these establishments, more samples are being taken from the larger establishments, while random testing of the smaller establishments continues. FSIS is also looking into sub-groups of establishments, such as ratite or religious-exempt establishments, to make sure that all possible sub-groups are documented and tested so that it can be clearer where contamination is coming from. All data is being compared to data on the CDC’s PulseNet so that the FSIS can have a clearer picture of which facilities are producing products that lead to foodborne illness.

Labels: beef, food safety, FSIS, poultry, Salmonella