October 28, 2009

A Massachusetts company is recalling 1,039 pounds tenderized beef cuts as well as ground beef patties that were made from of bench trim--beef that is left over after steaks and other cuts are produced from large chunks of beef--because they may be contaminated with a deadly type of E. coli bacteria, the US Department of Agriculture said Tuesday (October 27).

The recall was announced after 20 school children and adults likely got sick from eating the beef at a nature camp, according to a statement released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Laboratory results have now confirmed two of the children had the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 found in the beef served at the camp, the statement said.

Crocetti's Oakdale Packing Co., produced the beef products through the company name South Shore Meats, Inc., in Brockton, Mass. Company president Carl Crocetti could not be reached for comment. A company employee said the company is not commenting on the recall.

The USDA announced in late July it intended, for the first time, to begin testing bench trim beef--the type of beef material that likely sickened the children at the Massachusetts camp--but it is unclear if that testing program has begun. A spokesman for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service could not confirm if the new bench trim testing had begun.

Bench trim, while often turned into hamburger, is not traditionally tested for E. coli like regular trim that comes straight out of slaughterhouses and packing plants.

"E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhoea, dehydration, and in the most severe cases, kidney failure," according to the USDA. "The very young, seniors and persons with weak immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness."