Earlier this week, Whole Foods announced an expansion in its recent fresh ground beef recall to include additional states after many people became sick due to E. coli-tainted beef purchased at the high-end, natural food retailer. The recall targets ground beef products purchased between June 2nd and August 6th, and Whole Foods is offering full refunds.
Food safety scares are certainly not a new occurrence among Americans. The tomato/jalapeño pepper salmonella outbreak is still under investigation – with tomatoes recently being cleared – and then there was the 2006 E. coli scare with spinach. The problem in both of these cases lies with the difficulty in pinpointing the source of contamination.
What makes the Whole Foods outbreak most concerning was its affiliation with Nebraska Beef, a company that has had numerous safety, health and labor violations over the years. According to a press released posted on Whole Foods’ website, the company stated: On the evening of August 8, 2008, Nebraska Beef issued a USDA Class 1 recall of 1.2 million pounds of beef because of possible E. coli 0157:H7 contamination of which only about 4 percent was destined for select Whole Foods Market stores in 23 states and D.C. That means the vast majority of this recalled product went to other retailers. One of our suppliers, Coleman Natural, had used this processing facility, which was not approved by Whole Foods Market .
And, according to an article in the Washington Post, Whole Foods said Coleman Natural Beef was seeking to work with Nebraska Beef following its sale to Meyer Natural Angus in June and the company received assurances that none of its meat had been processed by Nebraska Beef.
With the public still skeptical, Whole Foods is working to regain trust by tightening its inspection rules. They are requiring processors to inspect each box of shipped meat for contaminants, a previously unwritten expectation. They also state that there is no beef associated with this recall left in their stores.
As consumers, it helps for us to do our research and understand that an “organic” label on foods does not address food safety or nutritional values, and know that from time to time, incidents such as these are bound to occur in an imperfect world.
Source: BecauseAction.com
