Eating a hamburger should not be a high-risk activity.
But the threat of E. coli in ground beef makes it so if your family is unfortunate enough to buy hamburger meat that was contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 in the slaughtering or grinding process.
E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef is banned by the federal government as a dangerous human pathogen. The law requires inspectors to test for it. But the system is far from fail-proof, which inevitably leads to ground beef E. coli outbreaks over and over that injure, hospitalize and kill victims.
In 2009, according to a review of federal records by food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen, more than 1 million pounds of ground beef and beef cuts intended for grinding were recalled from market by USDA-inspected slaughter plants and processors.
The largest of the 15 recalls covered 545,699 pounds of E. coli-contaminated ground beef produced last fall by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y. Our law firm is representing a young child who developed E. coli HUS after consuming Fairbank Farms beef.
Multi-state E. coli outbreaks associated with these recalls killed at least three people and sickened at least 80, according to the records. The outbreaks resulted in at least 34 hospitalizations and eight confirmed cases of life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disease especially dangerous to children that causes kidney failure and many other serious health conditions.
Ground beef E. coli outbreaks don’t have to be large in scale to be deadly. In Cleveland last year, a 7-year-old girl died in a ground beef E. coli outbreak associated with E. coli-tainted ground beef from Valley Meats LLC of Coal Valley, Ill. The company recalled 95,898 pounds of potentially tainted hamburger meat in May 2009 that had been delivered to restaurants.
Another isolated but disturbing ground beef E. coli outbreak occurred in October at a nature camp in Plymouth, Mass. In that case, more than 20 children and chaperons from a middle school in Rhode Island were sickened by contaminated ground beef traced to a meat packer in Brockton, Mass.
It is axiom in food poisoning circles that raw ground beef is the most common vehicle for E. coli O157 infections. Many times the infections come from ground beef hamburgers cooked on the grill. That’s because temperatures of at least 160 degrees are needed to kill E. coli and the only reliable measurement is a food thermometer.
How does E. coli get into ground beef in the first place?
E. coli O157:H7 colonizes in the intestines of cattle without harming them. At slaughter, the pathogen can contaminate muscle meat, sometimes when an intestine is nicked or during the removal of the animal’s hide. Hides are often smeared with feces. Washes and rinses of the carcasses aren’t 100 percent effective in removing the organisms.
E. coli in ground beef survives refrigerator and freezer temperatures and the bacteria do nothing to spoil the appearance or odor of the meat. Once in ground beef, E. coli can multiply very slowly at temperatures as low as 44 degrees. The actual infectious dose is unknown, but most scientists believe it takes only a small number of this strain of E. coli to cause serious illness.
Still, ground beef E. coli outbreaks are preventable and ground beef E. coli lawsuits play an important role. Without the threat of E. coli litigation in the U.S. justice system, meat packers, retailers and others in the supply chain would have less incentive to employ the best known practices to prevent these infections.
Pritzker Olsen is a national leader in ground beef E. coli litigation and we have collected millions for victims of E. coli O157:H7 poisoning, including those struck by HUS. To contact a ground beef E. coli lawyer at our firm, call 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact form. We provide free case consultations and can explain how you owe us nothing until we win your case.
