October 29, 2007

Canadian beef firm pointed as source of Topps meat

A now-defunct Canadian beef plant was the possible source of bacteria-contaminated meat used to make frozen hamburgers that later sickened 40 people in eight states, the Agriculture Department said Friday (October 26).

In a joint US-Canadian investigation, the DNA fingerprint of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria isolated from beef trim that had remained in storage with Rancher's Beef Ltd. matched the samples taken both from victims of the food poisoning outbreak and packages, both intact and opened, of New Jersey-based Topps Meat Co. frozen hamburgers. Rancher's Beef of Balzac, Alberta, had supplied Topps with beef trim used to make the patties, the USDA said.

A message left with Rancher's Beef, which has ceased operations, was not immediately returned.

Topps, based in Elizabeth, in September withdrew all its 21.7 million pound frozen patties it had made in the previous 12 months in what is the second-largest beef recall in US history. Topps shut down just days later.