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JBS Swift E. coli Outbreak Short on Recall Information

By PritzkerLaw

By FRED PRITZKER
As Americans prepare for 4^th of July cookouts, we once again are faced with recalls due to beef contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly pathogen.

Late last week, the U.S.Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the agency in charge of the safety of our meat supply, announced a  JBS Swift beef recall of 41,000 pounds. The meat cuts -- commonly used for making store-packaged hamburger at the retail level -- was produced at the JBS Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado.

On Sunday, the recall was expanded to include 380,000 more pounds of beef.  Yet five days after the original recall we still do not know the location of all this beef, or where it was sold.

That's because JBS Swift will not release the names of where the product was shipped, and the FSIS either cannot track, will not track, or will not tell the public where this tainted meat was sold.  In a day and age when you can track a personal package from your computer, minute-by-minute, you would think five days after a serious recall the public could know where potentially deadly meat ended up.

Thankfully, one-by-one, many stores are recalling meat that was reprocessed and repackaged by various distributors and stores. Yet none of this information is available from JBS Swift or from the FSIS website in readily accessible fashion.  Rather, it is being gathered by individual citizens concerned for the public's safety. For the benefit of all potential victims of this E. coli outbreak, national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys has assembled a list below of stores known to have recalled beef due to this outbreak.

The list likely will be expanding by the day, if not the hour.  You may obtain more information on the specific recalls by clicking on the links below. If you shop at one of these stores, and you think you may have E. coli O157:H7, go to a doctor immediately.  At the doctor, make sure you ask for a stool sample.  That is the best way to determine if you have E. coli O157:H7.  Then contact an experienced E. coli attorney at Pritzker Olsen by calling 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free). For a free case consultation online, please complete one of our electronic forms. Here's the partial list of stores compiled so far by Pritzker Olsen:

• Bloom and Food Lion Stores in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia – Beef cuts and ground beef.
• CostCo- Steaks, ribs, ground beef.
• Food 4 Less in Illinois and Indiana  - Ground beef.
• Fry's Food and Drug Stores - Ground beef.
• Hannaford Bros. Co. - Beef cuts and ground beef.
• Kroger - Ground beef.
• Price Chopper - Ground  beef and beef loin bottom sirloin steaks.
• Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., Pick 'n Save, Copps and Rainbow stores – Beef cuts and ground beef.
• Smith's Food and Drug Stores in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming  - Ground beef.
• Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. - Ground beef
• WinCo Foods LLC stores in Idaho and Oregon - Boneless bottom round roast, steak, carne asada, ground beef.
  
  The writer, Mr. Pritzker, is founder and president of Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, a national food safety law firm with offices in downtown Minneapolis. To contact Fred, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free).

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on July 02, 2009 (boomark / email).