XL Foods beef recall expanded yet again

[Azure]

XL Packers. Don't give Lakeside a bad name now. They're probably making triple sure their plant is clean.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

The beef that isn't being recalled is safe to eat. It is an issue to do with a meat packing plant, not the cattle in Alberta. The intestinal tract of a cow is full of all sorts of bugs that would kill you and everyone you love given the chance - it doesn't mean that the beef isn't safe to eat - the issue exists at Lakeside Packers not the ranches.

You're preaching to choir here.

[Drake]

Keeps getting worse.

The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety is advising companies to stop selling and to recall what it describes as "a small portion" of beef from XL Foods which had made its way to local shops.

Meanwhile, the number of cases of E. coli in Canada linked to the strain from XL's contaminated product now sits at 11, with a new case discovered on Vancouver Island.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said the patient who tested positive two weeks ago has recovered from the illness and an investigation has been launched into the source of the contamination.

In light of the growing beef recall, which began in September, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced it will begin a "detailed assessment" of the XL Foods in plant in Brooks, Alta., starting Tuesday.

Officials from the agency said they will be checking safety controls at the plant and will determine if XL Foods has fixed the problems uncovered by the agency.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...ef-recall.html

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

The beef that isn't being recalled is safe to eat. It is an issue to do with a meat packing plant, not the cattle in Alberta. The intestinal tract of a cow is full of all sorts of bugs that would kill you and everyone you love given the chance - it doesn't mean that the beef isn't safe to eat - the issue exists at Lakeside Packers not the ranches.

This isn't exactly true. Maybe I misunderstand you, but e.coli happens quite frequently outside of these recall panics. My brother got it in the early 90's as a kid, and very nearly died. No recall or mention was made on any news.

People need to treat beef as if all of it is contaminated. Especially if they have children. Cook it to the recommended temp, and then a bit more to be sure. Be ultra clean.

I am not saying don't eat beef (my family eats it 2 times a week), but like chicken, one slip up could be enough. It doesn't matter the slaughterhouse, or the ranch, there is always a chance your beef could severely sicken your kids or even kill them, any time, any place.

You can minimize your chances, but really you can never be totally sure.

[Azure]

You can be surer if you eat grass-fed beef. E. coli levels in the cows intestinal tract are vastly reduced.

[polak]

I'd rather not eat steak then eat it "Medium" let alone "well done".

Ew.

[Rathji]

Most of this problem surrounds ground beef, since you every part of the meat has been exposed for contamination. Steaks, roasts etc don't have that problem, so you only need to cook the exterior.

Just a note: There was a problem at Costco, relating to steaks being contaminated, due to the tenderizing machines needles being dirty, so it is not cut and dry.

[polak]

Aren't a lot of the bigger steaks these days actually smaller chunks held together by meat glue? Which in turn adds to the risk?

Remember reading that somewhere.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by polak

Aren't a lot of the bigger steaks these days actually smaller chunks held together by meat glue? Which in turn adds to the risk?

Remember reading that somewhere.

A steak that is 'meat glued' would have the same risks as ground beef.

Unless I drastically underestimate where it is used, you don't need to worry about buying glued meat at the grocery store, as it is more of a thing for restaurants.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Azure

XL Packers. Don't give Lakeside a bad name now. They're probably making triple sure their plant is clean.

XL bought Lakeside back in 2009. XL Brooks = Lakeside in this case.

[Azure]

Ah cool. I guess I've been out of the game a while now.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by polak

Aren't a lot of the bigger steaks these days actually smaller chunks held together by meat glue? Which in turn adds to the risk?

Remember reading that somewhere.

Wtf? where do you get your information from?

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Rathji

.

Just a note: There was a problem at Costco, relating to steaks being contaminated, due to the tenderizing machines needles being dirty, so it is not cut and dry.

Yes. Further to this Costco was never targeted by the Media the way XL was. Luckily for Costco the Media automatically linked the two and for good reason, however it was never brought up that the sanitation and product handling at this particular Costco was obviously an issue.

What they do is they have a machine with a bunch of needles on it that they use to manually "tenderize" bonelss cuts of beef, they do this before it gets sliced up for the retail counter. They can press all the little needles into the cut and the needles will puncture or cut through all the connective tissue (connectice tissue is very tough to chew and doesn't break down during cooking). Something I find interesting is that Customers are never made aware of this practice and there is no legeslation to disclose this on any product labeling.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Azure

You can be surer if you eat grass-fed beef. E. coli levels in the cows intestinal tract are vastly reduced.

Based on what science?
And this isn't the reallity most of the population lives in, nor a luxury available to them. This should not even be an issue had Lakeside took all precautions and preformed thorough daily sanitation. You have to simply cook ground beef to 170, no matter where it comes from.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Wtf? where do you get your information from?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=meat+glue+steaks

Note: I asked that as a question. I'm by no means an expert on this, I just said "I heard" that this was the case.

[Derek Sutton]

Everything on the Internet is true, especially when the first article is from a website called hotair.com. So in answer to your question NO!! You will not find anything coming out of XL/ Cargill or any credible grocery store in Alberta using "meat glue". I am an expert on this so I would be happy to answer any questions that are posed as questions and not as an accusation towards to beef/ grocery industry.

[Codes]

Originally Posted by Azure

You can be surer if you eat grass-fed beef. E. coli levels in the cows intestinal tract are vastly reduced.

I think I've addressed this before, but it is the smaller population density of grass-fed cattle compared to those in feed lots that contributes to the decreased occurrence of human pathogens in cattle. Feed type is irrelevant, but the proximity between animals is the driving force of the spread of a bacterial population amongst a herd of cows.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Everything on the Internet is true, especially when the first article is from a website called hotair.com. So in answer to your question NO!! You will not find anything coming out of XL/ Cargill or any credible grocery store in Alberta using "meat glue". I am an expert on this so I would be happy to answer any questions that are posed as questions and not as an accusation towards to beef/ grocery industry.

Thats why I made my statement a question cause I was just repeating what I heard.

That is a relief though. How about those huge cuts you can get at places like costco that are good for 5 or 6 thick, normal size steaks? Is that actually one cut of meat?

Either way, I won't be eating Burgers (cause they're easy to undercook) or Steak (I only really like rare) until this whole ordeal is over.

How much potentially tainted meat is possibly still out there?

[Rathji]

It would never make sense for Costco to meat glue anything. Ever. Same with any major grocery store. They would lose so much business it wouldn't be funny.

What meat glue is good for is taking a bunch of small pieces of meat, and gluing them together to form a 'tenderloin' or 'New York steak' at a place where the consumer never sees the raw product. The only time this makes sense is at a low end restaurant, or bar for something like a steak sandwich etc. Anyone who has worked with meat for any length of time can identify a cut of meat when it is raw and there would be huge signs when it was glued.

As for how much tainted meat being out there, I wouldn't worry about it because:

a) The Lakeside plant, and yes it is still call Lakeside, despite it not being owned by IBP anymore, when it finally opens, will be under intense scrutiny.

b) Costco has a crazy good tracking system for what they sell. You can walk in with your card at any point in time and they can tell you if you ever purchased any meat that was part of the recall. I am going to assume that means they can tell which of their product has been tainted, especially since they are under scrutiny as well.

c) Even if something was missed on the shelf at any major chain, because they were not under this scrutiny, there is no way they would have accepted any potentially tainted product from Lakeside, and if they had any that they had accepted, it would have gone back directly. All these stores, Sobeys, Safeway etc, employ people whose job it is to manage quality from meat packing plants. It would be job suicide for these people to accept, or continue processing any meat from Lakeside in the small window it would have been around. Even if they has missed something, it would have been sold long ago, since meat just doesn't have that long of shelf life once it gets trayed.

[Mccree]

16m 660News ‏@660News
Union representing XL Foods workers in Brooks says the company has one chance to get it right, before the union pushes for new ownership.

Expand