U.S.D.A. Recalls 36 Million Pounds of Turkey

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Meat giant Cargill is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has killed one person in California and sickened at least 76 others.

Illnesses in the outbreak date back to March and have been reported in 26 states coast to coast.

Cargill said Wednesday that it is recalling fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2 due to possible contamination from the strain of salmonella linked to the illnesses.

Company officials said that all ground turkey production has been suspended at the plant until the company is able to determine the source of the outbreak.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/03/business/AP-US-Tainted-Ground-Turkey.html

[Avalux]

1. What would happen if the USDA was privatized to reduce the deficit and create jobs?

And these giant companies like Cargill were 'regulated' by private corps (themselves?). Something to think about when the Pukes try to privatize everything.

There would be no recall.

[geomon666]

16. I'm sure they'd have our best interests at heart.

A few hundred dead people from a food born virus is an acceptable loss compared to the profits gained from the sale of millions of turkeys sold year round. :mad:

[onehandle]

2. I didn't know Speaker Boehner weighed that much. nt

[Kalidurga]

3. Maybe it was...

Rush. Seriously though that is horrible and I have talked to people that say we are being regulated to death.

[kestrel91316]

13. So you prefer we go back to the way it was 100 years ago before the

USDA and food safety regulations even existed.

Okay. Got that. Enjoy your little stay.

The problem here isn't overregulation, it's underregulation, underenforcement, and foxes guarding henhouses.

[Lance_Boyle]

20. That was an unwarranted attack based on an innocuous post that you must have misread.

You should edit or request deletion of your misdirected knee-jerk.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. I'm glad I reside in the northeast

[pipoman]

4. Shocker there....

there may be salmonella in ground turkey...how about if you're going to eat ground turkey, you cook it correctly..no salmonella

[kestrel91316]

14. Salmonella is a dangerous bacteria that shouldn't be in our food at all.

Cross-contamination can and does occur in spite of proper cooking, and people can DIE as a result of infection.

How about the food factories clean up their effing act and start producing edible product??

[pipoman]

19. Salmonella is a naturally occurring

bacteria, it is in the environment and always has been. It is present in many meats and is caused by fecal contamination during processing. It is on vegetation and can be present in organic veggies fertilized with animal feces or which is subject to wild animal contact while growing. Salmonella cannot be washed off. The only way to be completely safe from salmonella is to cook food to 160 degrees for 3 minutes. All ground meat and poultry should be cooked to 160 to be safe. Cooking lettuce to 160 isn't so easy. If one cooks poultry and ground meats to 160, as should always be done, and maintain a clean work area, and there will be no salmonella. Cross contamination = either ignorance or carelessness.

Fresh vegetables are more of a risk than properly cooked meats because there is no way of knowing if, say, a rat snake curled up in the bib lettuce the night before harvest. Your own garden could produce products with salmonella contamination.

Salmonella causes mild stomach upset and brief diarrhea in most people and results in people saying things like 'I ate something which disagreed with me'. People with immune issues and some other ailments can have more dramatic effects including death. This is why people who know they are at risk should be more diligent.

Again, if people properly cooked their ground turkey (and are careful about contaminated surfaces, etc) there would be no salmonella cases associated with this product.

[UpInArms]

5. It was not clear why it took five months to identify the outbreak

and its source and to notify the public of the investigation.

The C.D.C. said in a report released Monday that routine sampling of meat bought at supermarkets detected four packages of turkey meat containing a strain of salmonella that matched the outbreak strain. Those packages were bought between March 7 and June 27, the agency said, and at least three were produced at the same plant.

...more...



:nuke:

[IamK]

17. Govt bureaucracy and corporate a$$ kissing...

not a fan of ground turkey.....

[BlueIdaho]

6. Tea Publicans to demand the destruction of the USDA

Obviously the government is stifling profits for Cargill and the processed meat industry - This Must End!

[unkachuck]

7. how in the hell....

....can you produce 36 MILLION bad pounds of anything without detection....is there no such thing as quality control?

....somebody fell asleep at the switch....where were our government inspectors?

[Kali]

11. that amount is likely not all bad

but it is at risk of contamination for whatever reason

when there is a recall of anything (pills, salad, meat, vehicles - whatever) you have to make a wide sweep of all possibilities - doesn't mean even a small fraction is actually bad, but when these huge processors go through such massive amounts they have to pull that much off the shelves.

if it was a small little local company you might pull a couple hundred pounds - say a couple animals worth, but those mega places run hundreds and thousands of animals a DAY

[kestrel91316]

15. USDA is run (at the top) by foxes, not hens. And until recently, IIRC,

USDA couldn't even demand a recall, they had to ask the companies real nice, and the companies could politely refuse.

[glinda]

9. Lovely I just fed some to my dogs in home made dog food. BTW it took

five years to get our pet food settlement that cost us 14 thousand for damaged pets that we still treat. We got just under four thousand. lol!

[pipoman]

21. Dogs are not susceptible to salmonella..

[glinda]

22. yes they can depending upon their overall health to begin with

[RebelOne]

24. I have been feeding that same turkey to my dogs

for a long time and they are perfectly OK. They love ground turkey. I have a package which is of the same batch that is being recalled. The dogs have eaten it with no ill effects.

[slackmaster]

10. I'll have the fish.

[lildreamer316]

12. That's because Congress talked too much (of it)..

and it became infected.




Okay, I was reaching with that one, sorry.

[flvegan]

18. That's a lot of turkeys that suffered and died for nothing.

It's a shame a person died, and I hope nobody else passes because of this.

[GliderGuider]

23. Can anyone think of some turkeys they would like to see ground up as a replacement? nt