Tag Archives: Topps

Bill Marler, guest barfblogger: Topps – Lessons America Forgot from Upton Sinclair’s “Jungle”

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In October, Topps Meat Company, founded in 1940, went out of business. That was after Topps had recalled nearly 22 million pounds of frozen hamburger contaminated with E. coli and 40 people across the U.S. had become ill.
 
Tort deformers decried the “tragedy” that is this Topps’ collapse – that a business went under and employees had lost their jobs.  Yes, a company bankrupt and unemployment are tragic.  What makes it more so is that the catastrophic breakdown in the food-safety chain at Topps could have and should have been prevented by Topps management.
 
It’s been a century since Utpon Sinclair published the “Jungle,” which exposed the contaminated underbelly of the American meat industry.  Reform quickly followed.  America got the Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Acts.  In the early 1990s, when these safeguards failed – e.g. Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak – again there was a public push for improving food safety.
 
The U.S.D.A. Food and Inspection Service responded with creating and aggressively enforcing the mandatory Risk Management System.  Derived from research and operations in the American space program, this approach HACCP prevented new outbreaks by establishing check-points at every phase of meat processing.  In addition, the agency classified the presence of E. coli O157:H7 as an adulterant under the Meat Inspection Act.  Until recently, the meat contamination problem seemed fixed.
 
Had Topps complied with the letter and spirit of HACCP, it would not have processed contaminated meat in 2005 and again in 2007.  So, why hadn’t Topps done what was the right thing to do for it and its now unemployed?  We will be researching that question for years.
 
My theory is that Topps’ leadership might have chosen to take short-cuts on systemic food-safety procedures.  Therefore, contamination which should have been detected early in meat processing wasn’t.  The result wasn’t pretty: Food-poisoned consumers went through the agony that E. coli inflicts.  They had incorrectly trusted that label “Inspected by the U.S.D.A.” as guaranteeing safety.
 
Over a century, two waves of reform in ensuring the safety of the American food supply chain have given business a total systems approach.  That approach works if management follows the rules.  Unfortunately, employees at Topps who lost their means of making a living were among those punished – severely. 
Will other businesses be able to learn that century-old lesson: Inattention to proper food processing will be the kiss of death for their brand name, profitability and, yes, very existence.
 
Bill Marler has been a lawyer representing E. coli victims, mainly children, since 1993. 

World-class boredom: Canada talks about U.S. inspections

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Six days after the U.S. government said it was going to start looking harder at meat imports from Canada, based on dubious findings at a now defunct Alberta slaughterhouse — and apparently a few others — the Canadian Minister for Agriculture has publicly responded (the PR isn’t on the Ag Canada website yet, but will eventually show up at http://www.agr.gc.ca/cb/index_e.php).

The statement below is even more baffling in that there is no mention of the 45 sick Canadians, including one dead person, probably linked to the same world-class meat. And Ted Haney, president of the Canada Beef Export Federation, said in the Toronto Star this morning that, "This is a disruption of trade, a disruption of price and a disruption of production. This simply can’t be justified."

At some point, someone in charge — they make the big bucks — may explain what kind of testing goes on and provide some data to validate the claims of Canada’s world-class status.

In the meantime, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, (exactly as pictured, left) said:

"I have every confidence in the strength and quality of Canada’s food safety, and I have strongly stated our Government’s disappointment with United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to temporarily hold and test Canadian beef, pork, and poultry exports to the U.S. We believe that the scope of these measures is not justified nor do they reflect established protocols.

The Government of Canada is committed to maintaining and strengthening Canada’s world-class food safety system to ensure that Canadians and our trading partners can purchase our food products with total confidence.

Protecting and promoting the health and safety of Canadians is of paramount importance for this Government, and we highlighted our strong and continued commitment to deliver action on food and product safety in our recent Speech from the Throne.

The Government of Canada is taking an active role in resolving this issue as quickly as possible to minimize any disruption to the Canadian beef, poultry and pork industries. Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials and I are working closely with our American counterparts toward the normalization of cross-border trade.

The Government of Canada is delivering results to maintain and enhance Canada’s world-class food safety system and make sure it meets the new challenges of a global marketplace."

U.S. to boost testing of imported Canadian meat

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The Canadians are jumping through so many hoops I’m not sure who can sort out this Topps Meat-Rancher’s Beef recall mess. Talk about bureaucratic.

On Oct. 26, 207, USDA, oh and CFIA, said that the multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to the Topps Meat Company has been traced back to a defunct Alberta company that apparently provided beef trim to Topps.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency PR notes that,

"The investigation is examining 45 cases of E. coli O157:H7 that were found in New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia. These cases were previously reported from July to September, 2007. As a result of these cases, eleven people were hospitalized and one elderly individual died."

By Nov. 3, 2007, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, perhaps befuddled by the Canadian approach, said it would increase testing for salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 on meat and poultry products being imported from Canada after the Topps E. coli outbreak in several U.S. states was traced to beef from a Canadian company.

Dr. Richard Raymond said,

"Effective next week, FSIS will increase testing for Salmonella, Listeria Monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 and will require that shipments be held until testing is complete and products are confirmed negative for these pathogens. In addition, Canadian meat and poultry products will receive increased levels of re-inspection by FSIS to confirm they are eligible to enter commerce when presented at the U.S. border.

"FSIS will also immediately begin an audit of the Canadian food safety system that will focus on Ranchers Beef, Ltd. and will include other similar establishments that export beef to the U.S. Based on information provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), FSIS had previously identified this Canadian plant, which has ceased operations, as a likely source of the multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to the Topps Meat Company. As the result of that recall investigation, FSIS delisted Ranchers Beef, Ltd., Canadian establishment number 630, on October 20, 2007. No product from that firm has been eligible to enter into the U.S. since that date.

"The audit and stepped up actions at the border are being conducted because of concerns about testing practices at Ranchers Beef, Ltd. that were discovered as part of the ongoing investigation."

Ted Haney, president of the Canadian Beef Export Federation, told The Canadian Press on Saturday,

"This is very serious, at least in the short term,"  and that major beef processing plants have already made the decision to either not operate for the next couple of days or to reduce  processing volumes and not trade to the United States.

"This is excessive," he said of the audit, which he called an "excessive and capricious” protocol. It was done without consultation, it was done unilaterally, it doesn’t reflect the risk of E. coli O157:H7 in both Canada and the United States. … I think they have a born-at-home public relations issue that
they’re attempting to deal with. … Our industry has been struggling with costs of regulation in Canada; it’s struggled with a lack of market access in Asia …. This will be very, very disruptive, at least in the short term."

So instead of explaining what Canadian safeguards are in place, and the kind of testing that is currently undertaken at Canadian plants — the kinds of things the Americans are looking for —  Haney essentially says the big Canadian meat plants are going home and won’t play in the sandbox anymore and regulations are just too much.

Now tonight, a Canadian Press wire story says that even though the 40 sick people in the U.S. and the 45 people in Canada had the same E. coli O157:H7 genetic pattern, the product from the now defunct Rancher’s Beef Ltd. of Balzac, Alta. had not been definitively linked to the Canadian sick folks; just the Americans.

Here’s some questions: Why were the Americans — again — the first to notify Canadians about an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7? What’s with all the rhetoric? Who knew what when?

Test away, America.

U.S. lawyer has eyes trained on Canadian E. coli meat backers

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After 45 illnesses including 11 hospitalizations and one death over the past three months from E. coli O157:H7 tainted beef, Canadian journalists have responded with … a yawn.

No coverage at all, except for robotic re-readings of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) press release which didn’t even identify the slaughter plant. The U.S. once again told Canadians they were sick.

One reporter, however, did manage to put some pieces together after talking with Seattle lawyer Bill Marler yesterday.

Neil Waugh of the Edmonton Sun notes today that the company that supplied the E. coli O157:H7 contaminated beef to the now bankrupt Topps Meats was Ranchers Beef Ltd. of Balzac, Alberta, which collapsed on Aug.15 after company president Tony Martinez reported in a court affidavit that his outfit was "in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis".

In other words it was broke. And likely would have stayed that way if the United States Department of Agriculture hadn’t blown the whistle on what Ranchers and the feds’ controversial Canadian Food Inspection Agency were doing – or apparently NOT doing -last summer.

The CFIA, in typical butt-covering mode, identified the dirty plant only as "a meat facility in Alberta."

But the Americans don’t play by Stephen Harper’s rules and fingered the fingerprints as coming from "Ranchers Beef Ltd, Canadian establishment 630."

And it gets even more confusing when you dig into the USDA notice, which reveals: "on one or more days Ranchers Beef may have retested, found negative, and exported boneless beef manufacturing trimmings that had originally tested presumptive positive for E. coli."

Waugh explains that the company business plan was "developed in the wake of the 2003 BSE crisis," Martinez told the court, as a result of the "near decimation" of the Canadian cattle industry when the U.S. border was closed.

And it wasn’t just a brainwave of 45 unidentified ranchers plus Sunterra Foods and Picture Butte feedlot kingpin Cor Van Raay.

In an attempt to "ameliorate the reliance" on U.S. markets, the Alberta and federal governments "developed policies to encourage construction of Canadian-based meat processing facilities."

There was a $46.5-million loan from Alberta Treasury Branches, the feds’ Business Development Bank and the National Bank of Canada.

A $20-million "credit enhancement" from the federal ag department added to the taxpayers’ exposure.

The Alberta Agricultural Financial Services also kicked in $9.35 million in "credit facilities" so investors could "purchase" company preferred shares.

Construction of the plant began in June 2006, but by last August, Martinez was reporting "current liabilities of $12.4 million" and "insufficient current assets to meet current obligations."

"We will clearly have to look at additional assets," said Seattle lawyer Bill Marler, who has already filed a class-action suit against Topps.

"We’re going upstream looking at who supplied the meat," said Marler, who has already collected more than $250 million in food poisoning litigation. "Who owns them and what’s their backing."

What’s worse, a group called the Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition, whose mission is to

"facilitate, through dialogue within the food industry and with all levels of government, the development and implementation of a national, coordinated approach to food safety to ensure credibility in the domestic and international marketplaces"

came out today and said that Canadian provincial and the federal ministers of agriculture should provide more taxpayer money to industry to try harder and not make people sick.

So, Canadian taxpayers get fleeced for millions, 45 get sick and one dies, the Americans have to point it out, and the industry asks for more taxpayer money to tell Canadians if they get sick it’s their fault.

Bill Marler will be in touch.

Blame Canada

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The multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to the Topps Meat Company has been traced back to a defunct Alberta company that apparently provided beef trim to Topps.

At this point, there is just (collaborative — ha) competing press releases from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Americans say,

that on October 25, the CFIA provided FSIS with PFGE patterns, or DNA fingerprints, from tests of beef trim from a Canadian firm, Ranchers Beef, Ltd., Canadian establishment number 630. This firm provided trim to the Topps Meat Company. While the firm, which had been located in Balzac, Alberta, ceased operations on August 15, 2007, some product remained in storage and was collected and tested by CFIA as part of the joint investigation of the Topps recall and as part of CFIA’s own investigation into 45 illnesses in Canada from E. coli O157:H7.

Today, PulseNet provided verification to FSIS that this PFGE pattern matched those from patients who were ill and from positive tests conducted by the New York Department of Health on product (both intact packages and open packages from patients’ homes) that was later recalled by the Topps Meat Company on September 29. PulseNet is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) searchable database of all PFGE patterns from patients and food products in the United States.

As of October 26, CDC reported 40 illnesses under investigation in 8 states, with 21 known hospitalizations. The latest onset of illness is September 24, 2007. This summer was the first time this rare PFGE pattern had been seen in North America.

The Canadian version said that

 the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) are currently investigating possible linkages between E. coli cases that occurred earlier this summer in Canada.  The Canadians didn’t even mention the company. Might be bad for business — except the company is already defunct.

The investigation is examining 45 cases of E. coli O157:H7 that were found in New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia. These cases were previously reported from July to September, 2007. As a result of these cases, eleven people were hospitalized and one elderly individual died.

There are lots of questions here. My guess is that CFIA didn’t figure the cases were linked till someone uploaded the PFGEs to PulseNet — run by the Americans — and the Americans said, uh, you’ve got an outbreak linked to the same source. And the only reason CFIA went public today, at it’s usual 6 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, when lots have people have gone off for the weekend, is because the Americans said we’re going public. We have too. Canada doesn’t. 45 sick people linked and 1 dead and this is the first public comment from CFIA. Hopeless.

But maybe I’m wrong. I look forward to thorough public disclosure from CFIA.

And of course, CFIA had to go and say,

Canadians are reminded that a number of simple steps should be taken when cooking with ground beef to reduce the likelihood of E. coli. Specifically, thoroughly cooking the meat and using safe handling practices can reduce the risk of illness.

Food safety isn’t simple, or there wouldn’t be so many sick people.