For Cargill, It's Tainted Turkey Time Again

[marmar]

from Mother Jones:



On August 3, agribusiness giant Cargill recalled a stunning 36 million pounds of ground turkey in response to an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella that had sickened more than 100 people and killed another.

The suspect meat had emerged from a single massive slaughterhouse in Arkansas. The fiasco inspired the company—one of the globe's largest agribusiness firms—to shut down that plant to disinfect it and upgrade safety procedures there. According to the trade journal ThePoultrySite.com, Cargill took the following steps during the plant's hiatus:

(Safety enhancements) include two additional antibacterial washes, intensifying an existing antibacterial system, disassembling and steam cleaning equipment before resuming ground turkey production, and requiring suppliers of turkey meat to add a new antibacterial wash. The company has also implemented the most aggressive Salmonella monitoring and testing programme in the poultry industry.

Officials from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) approved the upgrades, Cargill officials told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and by mid-August, the plant was cranking out vast amounts of ground turkey again.

Turns out, though, the antibiotic-resistant salmonella strain that caused the outbreak managed to resist Cargill's safety upgrades. On September 11, FSIS announced that Cargill is recalling 185,000 more pounds of ground turkey from its Arkansas plant, samples of which had tested positive for the exact same strain of antibiotic-resistant salmonella that caused the August calamity. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/09/cargill-turkey-recall

[wilt the stilt]

1. damn regulators

getting in the way of business

[RebelOne]

2. I bought ground turkey from that supposedly contaminated batch.

Of course, at the time I bought it, I did not know it was recalled. I fed it to my dogs, as they love ground turkey. I cooked it in the microwave. The dogs are OK and have not become sick.

[WinkyDink]

4. Not everyone died from the Black Plague, either.

[Luminous Animal]

5. Goody for you. I, on the other hand, was as sick as I have ever been in my life.

First, a few days of 102-103 degree fever and consistent retching, thus no appetite. Then it was painful to eat for 2 and half weeks. Every time I ate, my stomach would cramp and my temperature would spike accompanied by uncontrollable shivering. By the time those two weeks were up, I was eating only about a cup of food a day. I started off thin and ended up looking skeletal. It's been a month and I've slowly got my appetite back but I lost my butt, I'm down to the furthest notch on my belts and I can't keep my pants up.

What I lost: hours of productive work; my vacation, my garden, and an opportunity to be on the board of a local democratic club. At least I didn't die. Some people did.

[RebelOne]

10. Glad you recovered OK.

I guess the batch I bought was not contaminated. Maybe if I had eaten it, I may have gotten sick. Fortunately, I don't eat meat, but my dogs do.

I read this on a pet med site: "E-coli is not a particular concern for dogs because the bacteria that they ingest are easily digested by the dogs' digestive system that is more robust than a human's."

[WinkyDink]

3. I think dinner at the next Republican debate should be Turkey Burgers.

[Luminous Animal]

6. Kick.

[sam11111]

7. IN-FACTORY constant regulators

I read of such somewhere.

Anyone able to expand on the good idea?

[nosmokes]

8. It's not the factory but the factory farm that is the problem.

Well, it's both, but since our agriculture has been destroyed,er,taken over by mega corporations that want bigger animals faster than they evolved all sorts of shenanigans with growth hormones go on. And since they're manufacturing these animals in extremely close quarters they all get to stand around in each others filth which means to keep 'em healthy long enough to make market weight they are dosed with anti-biotics in their feed which is creating super-strains of some nasty bugs. The problem will only get worse until we realize a functional local,responsible food system for everyone.Of course unless folks are willing to change the way they eat that ain't about to happen anytime soon,or long term I believe.

[In Jest]

9. Why the Hell do we need to GRIND everything???

Just another violent tendency, I guess. :rofl: