Tag Archives: Hamburger

People sick, how many a mystery; E. coli O157 in Canadian hamburger

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There’s an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Canada, product has been recalled, but no one will say how many are sick.

This is due to some bureaucratic division of reporting: the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reports on recalled food, and it’s up to Health Canada or the Public Health Agency of Canada to report actual illnesses.

Expect to hear from one of those agencies in the next week.

What is known is that CFIA and Loblaw Companies Ltd. are warning the public not to consume certain Butcher’s Choice Garlic Peppercorn Beef Burgers because this product may be contaminated with E. Coli O157:H7.

The affected product, Butcher’s Choice Garlic Peppercorn Beef Burgers, is sold frozen in 1.13 kg packages bearing UPC 0 60383 89363 7. The affected product bears the code BEST BEFORE 2013 MR 03 EST 752.

This product has been distributed nationally.

This recall is the result of an ongoing investigation into a number of E. coli O157:H7 related illnesses in Canada. The CFIA is currently testing additional products collected from across the country. The recall may be expanded to include other codes or products as test results are received.

How hard would it be to clearly state, this is how many people are sick, and where they are located? Canadian tax dollars at work. And why isn’t megalomart Loblaw putting out its own version? Hiding behind the sheen of government, which is a lousy shield.

 

London restaurant fights council over rare hamburger complaint

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I don’t know what a rare hamburger is. When asked how I would like a burger, I say thermometer-verified 165F. I’m met with blank stares, which I return: rare is a subjective value with little meaning.

The city council of Westminster — which includes many of the important cultural districts in the West End — served notice against London restaurant Davy’s over how they were serving their £13.95 burger. The council’s food health and safety manager commented, “It is possible to produce burgers that can be eaten undercooked, but strict controls are essential.”

Huffington Post reports Davy’s has appealed the notice to the High Court, and their decision could set a precedent for how rare and medium rare burgers are regulated going forward.

The rare burger controversy in Westminster follows several months of controversy in England over the risks posed by rare and medium-rare beef. One major UK burger chain recently committed to ending the sale of rare and medium-rare burgers, while another was hit with penalties for serving undercooked burgers

Food poisoning hard to prove – and complaint records hard to get

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The Ottawa E. coli case that prompted the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit to bar restaurants from serving raw kibbeh may not have been caused by the ground beef dish after all.

Eric Leclair, head of the health information co-ordination unit at Ottawa Public Health, told Claire Brownell of the Windsor Star that while a child became ill with the potentially life-threatening type of E. coli after eating the home-prepared dish last February, there’s no way to know for sure whether the food was the source of the illness.

“There’s no confirmation, per se. The actual food itself was prepared in someone’s home. It wasn’t bought as kibbeh, it was just bought as meat,” he said. “There was no real solid connection between them.”

In fact, it’s almost impossible to verify the source of any food-borne illness with certainty. Six people reported food poisoning to the Windsor health unit between April 1 and June 30, 2012, but  inspectors ruled the complaints unsubstantiated after investigating the establishments that served the food, according to information obtained by The Star through an access to information request.

That information was not easy to obtain. In early July, after the health unit imposed restrictions on the sale of raw kibbeh, The Star asked Medical Officer of Health Allen Heimann and health inspection department manager Mike Tudor for records of complaints about food-borne illness in the second quarter of 2012 and filed a freedom of information request after they declined to provide them, citing privacy reasons.

Almost five months later, after The Star appealed the health unit’s decision to deny the records, the organization revealed a few pieces of information about the complaints during a mediation session co-ordinated by the Ontario information and privacy commissioner. Four were about handwashing and four were from restaurant customers who said they found something unsanitary in their food, in addition to the six complaints from people who believe they became sick after eating tainted food.

Dana Young, a lawyer representing the health unit, said she was reluctant to provide details about the complaints — such as what unsanitary objects people said they found in their food — because they might identify the restaurant or the person making the complaint. Young and a group of high-ranking WECHU staff members agreed to compile a chart with generic information about the complaints, which was completed and in the mail on Friday, according to the mediator.

Health unit CEO Gary Kirk said he was concerned about releasing inaccurate information to the public. Unless a person who gets sick from tainted food keeps both a sample of the food and a stool sample for testing, it’s impossible to know for sure whether that food caused the illness.

“If we were to name the establishment where these complaints were lodged, we might mistakenly impugn someone’s reputation, because the follow-up didn’t indicate where there was a problem,” he said. ”That’s at the heart of our concern.”

Yet that’s exactly the type of unsubstantiated complaint held up by the health unit in support of banning an entire traditional dish from restaurants. When asked why the WECHU believes that particular complaint warranted such drastic action, but considers similar complaints in Windsor too unreliable to release to the public, Tudor, the health inspection department manager, said kibbeh was on the health unit’s radar anyway.

 

Color doesn’t cut it when cooking burgers – French edition

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Our French food safety friend, Albert Amgar, sent along a statement from retailer Carrefour involving a recall of hamburger and patties contaminated with E. coli O 157: H7 and produced by Elivia Eloyes.

“In general, it should be noted that cooking (ie the disappearance of the pink color) hamburgers and chopped meat products helps prevent the consequences of such contamination … these recommendations for cooking are most appropriate when the meat is intended for young children and the elderly.”

What’s more appropriate is a tip-sensitive digital thermometer because 30 per cent or so of hamburger will turn brown before it is actually cooked to a safe temperature.

Color is a lousy indicator: stick it in.

At least they said sorry; 33 sick with Salmonella from Cargill beef in 7 states

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At least 33 people have been sickened with Salmonella Enteritidis linked to ground beef from a Cargill plant in Pennsylvania.

Although the onset of illness happened during the week of June 6, 2012, it took six weeks of sleuthing to link illnesses in five case-patients to the ground beef products produced at this establishment based on epidemiologic and traceback investigations, as well as in-store reviews.

Two of the five case-patients were hospitalized. Leftover product with no packaging information collected during the course of this investigation by the Vermont Department of Health tested positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis. This outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis is drug sensitive, meaning antibiotics can be effective in treating patients who need them

"Foodborne illnesses are unfortunate and we are sorry for anyone who became sick from eating ground beef we may have produced," stated John Keating, Cargill Beef president. "Ensuring our beef products are safe is our highest priority and an investigation is underway to determine the source of Salmonella in the animals we purchased for harvest and any actions necessary to prevent this from recurring."

Cargill Beef, a business unit of Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, announced the Class I voluntary recall of approximately 29,339 pounds of 85-percent-lean, fresh, ground beef produced at the company’s Wyalusing, Penn., facility on May 25, 2012, due to possible contamination with Salmonella Enteritidis.

The products subject to recall, sold wholesale and for further processing:
• 14 pound chub packages of "Grnd Beef Fine 85/15", packed 3 chubs to approximate 42-pound cases.

The ground beef involved was repackaged for sale to consumers by Cargill’s customers. For a list of packages associated with this recall, consumers should refer to the USDA recall website at:www.fsis.usda.gov/FSIS_Recalls/index.asp.

Kibbeh kontroversy: is raw hamburger banned in Ontario or not? And how should the rules be enforced

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A month after an Ontario health unit decided to enforce a ban on kibbeh – a Lebanese dish made from raw hamburger – one restaurant says it will serve the dish processed instead of ground, sidestepping regulations.

Mazaar restaurant co-owner Imad Najjar told the Windsor Star, "I’m going to serve it until a food processor or a mincer is called a grinder."

Dr. Allen Heimann, Windsor-Essex County chief medical officer, responded, "If meat is sliced thinly while raw, like ceviche, which is Italian, it is not in violation of the regulations. But if it is raw ground meat, then that’s something entirely different."

The latest statements cap weeks of uncertainty, bungling and bad food safety advice.

It began in late June when Windsor-Essex County Health Unit inspectors began forcing Lebanese restaurants to pull product after a report of contaminated raw kibbeh in Ottawa late last year.

Provincial regulations require ground meat cooked to an internal temperature of at least 71 C for at least 15 seconds.

Medical officer Heimann then went on the record to state, “regardless of the popularity of a product, public safety must be my priority.

“Raw kibbeh and steak tartare are raw ground meat dishes that do not conform to section 33(7) paragraph 3 of Ontario Regulation 562, of The Food Premises Regulation.

“This section of the regulation states that all parts of ground meat (other than ground meat containing poultry) must be cooked to reach an internal temperature of at least 71 C for at least 15 seconds. Ground meat containing poultry must be cooked to at least 74 C for at least 15 seconds.

“On July 10, a teleconference was held to discuss the issue with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and several other health units, including Ottawa, Toronto and London.

“All of the participating health units confirmed they do not allow the serving of raw ground meat in restaurants. The teleconference group further agreed to continue to review this issue in accordance with the Food Premises Regulation.”

And then things got really confusing.

An Ottawa resident wrote, “The regulation Heimann keeps quoting, that ground meat should be cooked to 71 C, deals with store-bought ground meat that was never intended and should not be used for raw consumption. Kibbeh, tartare and carpaccio do not fall into this category, as any foodie (or 15 seconds on Google) could tell you.”

Raw is raw.

A local medical doctor wrote that he’s never seen a case of E. coli from kibbeh, and that, “if you really wanted to prevent this infection in our community, perhaps Big Brother should ban travel to Mexico.”

It didn’t take long for a raw milk proponent to jump in and argue freedom of choice should apply to all foods.

Maybe. But don’t serve it to kids. The Ontario government needs to come clean on what the rules are and how they should be enforced without leaving local inspectors as the arbiters for bureaucratic indecision.

Chef serves up raw meat protest in Windsor

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A chef in Windsor (that’s in Canada, across the river from Detroit, where they have a decent hockey team) is going to serve raw meat dishes lamb tartare and lamb Carpaccio this Canada Day weekend to protest local health types banning the raw beef dish kibbeh from a handful of Lebanese restaurants and steak tartare from another.

“Until an inspector tells me to stop, I’ll keep serving it. And if they tell me to stop, I will probably still do it,” said Rino Bortolin.

Lawyers, open your bank accounts.

Bortolin called the Windsor Essex County Health Unit unit “culturally insensitive” to "hard-working small businesses."

“Certain preparations have been accepted for years and pose no harm when done properly. Those have been on menus for decades,” Bortolin said. “These meats and dishes have been prepared and eaten this way for centuries.”

Bortolin said the health unit has overreacted to an incident in Ottawa.

In February, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a media release warning customers to not consume finely ground beef sold at New Middleast Supermarket in Ottawa.

“The affected ground beef is a finely ground raw beef known to be used for Kebbeh,” the release said.

The release never mentioned a restaurant. In an email sent Wednesday, CBC News asked the CFIA why it made reference to a specific dish. The agency has not responded.

The owner of the New Middleast Supermarket told CBC News that he didn’t sell the beef to restaurants and that the meat in question was consumed by a customer.

“If it’s the source material, investigate that source and fix that problem,” Bortolin said.

Chief medical officer Dr. Allen Heimann said beef must be cooked to an internal temperature of 71 C for 15 seconds before public consumption.

Bortolin contends the law does not prohibit him from serving raw meat, only that he must "be aware of susceptible segments of society," such as children and the sick.

Bortolin said he hasn’t yet heard the reason behind the health unit’s sudden enforcement. He said he’s not aware of anyone in Windsor getting sick after eating kibbeh at a restaurant.

He said before ordering, customers should ask when a restaurant’s meat arrived and where it came from.

“I welcome people asking questions,” he said. “All my meat comes fresh from Essex County. We do that for a reason.”

I wouldn’t eat there.

Bad hamburger advice abounds for Canadian and US holidays

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It’s hamburger porn season, even in Sydney, and the advice is worse than ever.

I have low expectations of Rachel Ray and other celebtards; the N.Y. Times has now continued its long history of food safety fashion over facts by promoting the finger-the-meat method of determining whether meat is cooked.

From a previous article, recycled in the terrible Times piece, about how to test for raw: Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of your other hand and push on the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. Make sure your hand is relaxed. This is what raw meat feels like.

Newspapers are rapidly irrelevant. This is what Johnny Cash and I think about fingering your meat (below). Stick it in. Use a thermometer.

Hamburger sends 4 kids, 1 adult to hospital in France

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France3.fr reports four children aged 2-14-years-old and one adult were hospitalized this week at Bordeaux University Hospital after suffering symptoms of E. coli. All reported eating hamburgers made by Société des Viandes Elaborées in Estillac although a direct link has not been established.

But that didn’t stop Intermarché and Netto supermarkets, who sold the steaks hamburgers, to recall some hamburger and ask their consumers to be vigilant.

A hotline has been set up: 0800 100 233.

Young E. coli victim to speak to Arizona county supervisors on food safety

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On June 4, 2012, Brian Supalla, health program manager at Yavapai County Community Health Services went before the supervisor-types to discuss plans to introduce the 2009 FDA Food Code to the area.

Supalla wasn’t far into his PowerPoint presentation when he mentioned one of the provisions of the new code – that restaurants would not be allowed to offer hamburgers cooked less than well-done on their children’s menus.

He said that’s because kids don’t have well-developed immune systems and are more susceptible to food-borne illnesses.

But Supervisor Chip Davis stopped him. "Do we have a lot of kids getting sick in Yavapai County from eating rare hamburgers?" Davis asked.

Couldn’t find one of those but did find a kid sickened by E. coli O157:H7 in the 2006 spinach outbreak.

As reported by the Verde Independent, Community Health Services Director Robert Resendes asked the family of Jacob Goswick, a Prescott Valley eighth-grader who was in the second grade when he ate spinach contaminated with E. coli bacteria, if Jacob would testify at the meeting.

Jacob spent two months in Phoenix Children’s Hospital – one month on dialysis – after his kidneys shut down, which is one of the potential side effects of food poisoning.

Since the spinach E. coli outbreak in 2006, both Jacob and his mother, Juliana Goswick, have lobbied in Washington, D.C., to improve food safety.

In his email to the Goswicks, Resendes said, "To have a family of your caliber and unfortunate compelling experience (speak to the board) would be ideal for the cause."

He said that experience would show the supervisors "that indeed foodborne illnesses can and do affect area residents and that some of the newer pathogens, e.g., E. coli, are particularly dangerous to children."

Juliana said she and Jacob would be willing to appear at the meeting, on Monday.