http://www.reuters.com/article/busin...18729020071104

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Agricultural giant Cargill Inc said on Saturday it
was recalling more than 1 million pounds of ground beef distributed in
the United States because of possible E. coli contamination.

Cargill Meat Solutions said the 1.084 million pounds (491,700 kg) of
ground beef was produced at the Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, facility
between October 8 and October 11, and distributed to retailers across
the country.

The retail chains that sold the beef include Giant, Shop Rite, Stop &
Shop, Wegmans and Weis.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture returned a confirmed positive for
the E. coli bacteria on a sample produced on October 8, the privately
owned company said.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the problem was
discovered through follow-up investigation and sampling after a
positive E. coli test at another federal establishment.

Symptoms of E. coli 0157:H7 illness, the strain associated with the
recall, include potentially severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and
dehydration. Children, the elderly and people with poor immune systems
are the must vulnerable.

"No illnesses have been associated with this product," John Keating,
president of Cargill Regional Beef, said in a statement. "We are
working closely with the USDA to remove the product from the
marketplace."

Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee's subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said Cargill
CEO Greg Page had been asked to testify on November 13 at a committee
hearing on food safety.

"This latest recall of more than a million pounds of beef is of great
concern," Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement.
_____________________________

So, in light of all the ongoing China bashing in the mainstream US
media, what do you think is worse? Buying (allegedly) lead-paint
contained toys from China (even though Mattel has already admitted
it's mainly their own fault), or eating a dangerous level on a daily
basis and on a mass-scale of US-made, slaughtered beef by Cargill, a
US-based company?

David Huang

On Nov 6, 4:33 am, wrote:
> http://www.reuters.com/article/busin...18729020071104
>
> CHICAGO (Reuters) - Agricultural giant Cargill Inc said on Saturday it
> was recalling more than 1 million pounds of ground beef distributed in
> the United States because of E. coli contamination.
>
> The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the problem was
> discovered through follow-up investigation//

>
> So, in light of all the ongoing China bashing in the mainstream US
> media, what do you think is worse?

On million pounds of beef unfit for human consumption !
Recall of American food product is very common and is not
considered a major issue..by US media.
For the past 6 months, there were more than a dozen
Federal cases of recall on tainted food products in the
USA.

The recall of toys from China ...is a different ball game.
It is a politcal tool to damage the good image of Chinese
products....to discourage Americans from buying China-
made products.

Most Americans just ignore the media hype...they continue
to buy China-made goods ...They know better...what
is good value for money.
Look at the trade gap between China and the USA...it is growing
much bigger.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recall...ases/index.asp
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01670.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...ck=1&cset=true

wrote in news:1194294804.886667.137870
@t8g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

> So, in light of all the ongoing China bashing in the mainstream US
> media, what do you think is worse? Buying (allegedly) lead-paint
> contained toys from China (even though Mattel has already admitted
> it's mainly their own fault), or eating a dangerous level on a daily
> basis and on a mass-scale of US-made, slaughtered beef by Cargill, a
> US-based company?

Lessee, who do I trust more - A US based company buying US agricultural
products under USDA inspection and subject to US law and working with
consumers, producers, and merchants to minimize impact, or a Chinese
company not subject to US law who uses poisonous products as a matter of
course, and is answerable to a country that has been aggressively
attacking the US economy for the past 3 decades.

I'll take my chances with Cargill any day of the week.



--
Ask Me Why I support Stem Cell Research
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/faqs.asp

"Barry Bean" > wrote in message
>
> I'll take my chances with Cargill any day of the week.
>

I don't take chance with either. Given that most recalls are for ground
beef, I grind my own. Cheaper (aside from "free" labor) better, safer.
Brisket makes very good ground beef for meatloaf or burgers.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> "Barry Bean" wrote
>> I'll take my chances with Cargill any day of the week.

> I don't take chance with either. Given that most recalls are for
> ground beef, I grind my own. Cheaper (aside from "free" labor)
> better, safer. Brisket makes very good ground beef for meatloaf or
> burgers.

Nothing wrong with a brisketburger. Nice stack of sliced
brisket instead of hamburger.

e-coli is killed by cooking to 160F throughout. Save the
nice juicy medium/medium-rare/rare cooking for solid beef.

hmm.. 160 is easy enough in the smoker, wonder how the burger
would turn out and how long it would take...

--
DougW

In article >,
"Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote:

> I don't take chance with either. Given that most recalls are for ground
> beef, I grind my own. Cheaper (aside from "free" labor) better, safer.
> Brisket makes very good ground beef for meatloaf or burgers.

Chuckeyes grind up good,too. Especially with a few strips of bacon or
hawg jowl thrown in for flavor. I haven't bought store-ground beef in
nearly 20 years.

monroe(grind yer own-it's good exercise)

In article >,
Sqwertz > wrote:

> I'll grind chuck (roasts), but true chuck eye steaks I'd cook as
> steaks. They're much too valuable to be grinding. They're like
> ribeyes!
> You come out of hiding just to say this? Get with it, Monroe! :-)

Our local chowkitty boxmart "butcher" refers to chuckeyes as
"PoorMan's Ribeyes". He gets a giggle outta seeing me (or the Widow)
loadin' up the cart with the store's total supply. As rare a find as
they are want to be,I buy every pack that I ever see on special. OK,so
I'm hoarding-deal widdit. I figure the better the meat,the better the
burger. I grind them with the huge 1/2" plate and treat the patties
ever-so-delicately. I do cook them like steaks,Ido.

monroe(inplainsight)

wrote:

>
> So, in light of all the ongoing China bashing in the mainstream US
> media, what do you think is worse? Buying (allegedly) lead-paint
> contained toys from China (even though Mattel has already admitted
> it's mainly their own fault), or eating a dangerous level on a daily
> basis and on a mass-scale of US-made, slaughtered beef by Cargill, a
> US-based company?

It's well-known that processing of beef runs the risk of E. Coli.
taint, which is why there are organizations and programs in place
to monitor it. Cargill did not intentionally introduce E. Coli.
into ground beef and has taken action to correct it.

This is in sharp contrast to the repeated issues of Chinese
food taint. It was not an accident when melamine was ground
into rice protein - this was an intentional act.

The Aqua Dots toy recall highlights the same disregard for
product safety in pursuit of greater profit, quoting from an
Associated Press article published in the San Francisco
Chronicle (article link: http://tinyurl.com/2ou9ae):

"According to a product description, the toys were supposed
to be coated with 1,5-pentanediol, a nontoxic compound found
in glue, but instead contained 1,4-butanediol, a potentially
harmful chemical widely used in cleaners and plastics."

and further:

There is a significant difference in price between the two
chemicals. The Chinese online trading platform ChemNet China
lists the price of 1,4 butanediol at between about $1,350-$2,800
per metric ton, while the price for 1,5-pentanediol is about
$9,700 per metric ton.

Someone clearly went to a bit of trouble to substitute a cheaper
toxic chemical at the Chinese factory where these toys were made
and figured it was only wrong if they were caught.

Cargill clearly did not intend to ship E. Coli. tainted meat, but
the incidents of Chinese product taint are not accidents.

Dana