Posted on 03/11/2011 7:18:48 AM PST by stillafreemind
E. Coli O157:H7 of special concern.
This strain of E. coli can colonize the the animals' intestines. This can lead to the bacterium contaminating the muscle meat at slaughter. This strain of E. coil can produce potent toxins in large quantities. It can cause severe damage to the lining of the intestines. A disease caused by this coli is called Hemoorhagic colitis. This E. coli has the capacity to survive both refrigeration and freezing temperatures.
(Excerpt) Read more at associatedcontent.com ...
How about if the meat is cooked?
The article talks about temperature and such. If you know you have some of this tainted meat, I’m not sure if you can use it or not safely. There’s a page that the article takes ya to that you can “ask Karen” a question. I wonder if that would help ya? It’s part of the USDA site and I have used it before.
This sounds like a nasty bug. I almost want to say that cooking the way they tell you too would kill it off. But gosh, I’d hate to tell you one thing and find out it wasn’t true.
I think you could be right about that. I used the link on the article and went over to their site. It looks like great beef and naturally grown. I hate to see this happen to them.
From the article:
All beef, whether fresh or frozen, must be cooked thoroughly. The FSIS suggests cooking raw beef at 160 degrees. They also suggest using a food thermometer to check the cooking meat on the inside. This affects thick
burgers even more. The outside may look well done, but the inside may still be under the suggested temperature of 160 degrees.
The USDA has classified this as a Class 1 recall. And it calls the health risk “High”. Class 1 means, “This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”
If you have some of this recalled beef, take it back to the place you purchased if from. Remember: You cannot tell if beef has been affected by this E. Coli by the color of the meat.
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IMUO (in my uneducated opinion), don’t try to cook it, just take it back. This thing is Bad News.
Yes
Don’t take me at my word but I think if it is cooked to 160 degrees it should kill it.
Believe it or not, it was my company that discoverd this 15H7 strain of e-coli on product we had independently tested. We, as a requirement of our HACCP program, informed both Creekstone Farms and the USDA of our findings. This is what led to this national recall of ground beef product, specifically 73/27 product.
That being said, Creekstone is an excellent operator and has a rigorous testing protocol. They missed this one however, but no illnesses have been reported related to the batch that has been recalled.
I’m certainly glad our meat manager did such a fine job of protecting our company. According to the USDA-HIC, our own spot-testing protocol was executed flawlessly.
PF
>>All beef, whether fresh or frozen, must be cooked thoroughly.<<
By authors standards I should have been dead at least 50 years ago. If there isn’t blood on the plate, it’s been cooked too much for me. I’ll eat prime beef raw even though I prefer it medium rare.
Wow, Kudos! Great job. I sure hope this doesn’t hurt Creekstone too much..I think they try to be very conscientious and try to raise healthy beef.
Was the Department of Agriculture successful in stopping Creekstone Farms from testing for Mad Cow? Big Beef was terrified of you guys. Haha
Most of the time, I will ignore government advice on cooking my beef, but when it comes to this cr*p, I listen up and play it safe. But that’s just me.
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