No bump in the grinding
The story about Ashville's Fairbank Farms and its recall of a half-million pounds of suspect ground beef continues to grind on.
- Beef plant operating after E. coli alert- The Buffalo News
The Western New York beef processing plant at the center of a regional alert for potentially fatal E. coli contamination continues to operate pending a visit from federal inspectors.
The Fairbank Farms operation in the Chautauqua County community of Ashville has recalled nearly 550,000 pounds of ground beef packaged in mid-September. The beef is linked to the deaths of two people and illnesses affecting 26 others.
Adrian Gianforti, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Tuesday that the department, working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has the task of making sure the voluntary recall has been properly publicized and finding points along the supply chain where the suspect beef may have been processed, shipped, repackaged and sold.
Only after that, Gianforti said, will inspectors from the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service visit the plant. That inspection, she said, will determine whether equipment or procedures require any changes and whether any penalties should be assessed.
In addition to recalls [which, under current federal law, remain voluntary on the part of processors], the USDA has this idea, called Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. [Does this sound somehow familiar?]
Else-Web:
- Recall of beef third for firm - Albany Times-Union
Price Chopper on Tuesday strongly defended Fairbank, saying the supplier goes "above and beyond" to insure the safety of its ground beef. Spokeswoman Mona Golub said Price Chopper will continue to sell Fairbank ground beef and remains confident the company is a top-notch distributor.
- Two lawsuits filed over tainted meat - GateHouse News/Brockton (Mass.) Enterprise
- DeLauro blasts latest ground beef recall - Feedstuffs [I never heard of it either.]
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
