Read This. Twice.
So, I’m browsing through news stories and skimmed over this one, nearly dismissing it before the real story sank in:
American Fresh Foods has announced that a truck loaded with 14,800 pounds of ground beef, some of it possibly infected with E. coli O157:H7, was stolen last Thursday. People have been advised to refrain from buying ground beef from dubious vendors. The refrigerated truck had been parked in the company’s car park when it was stolen.
That’s right, the story isn’t that some stupid criminal made off with a truck loaded with meat instead of, say, an Armored Car.
Nope, the story is that meat which might be contaminated with E. coli was loaded on a truck and left sitting around in the parking lot.
No wonder we keep having these damn food recalls, if that’s how food manufacturers handle their products. Sheesh!
So be careful, kiddies, next time you stop to buy your ground beef from the back of some guy’s pickup truck in the parking lot outside of Wal-Mart, OK?
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I guess it’s a good thing I don’t look for meat which has ‘fallen off the back of a truck’ and that I do buy my meat from reputable grocers. (btw I saw 12 packs of TaB at 4 for $11 at Jewel today, which used to be owned by Albertsons and is now SuperValu I think…)
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TaB soda 12 packs? Oh man, my teenager is right: life isn’t fair!
I wonder how much it’d cost to ship those from your place to mine?
I don’t know. I’d have to check. Weigh a 12 pack and then check UPS ground rate from here to there…
just checked and a 12 pack of Orange Crush weighs 10.6 pounds on my digital bathroom scale.
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Well, assuming I did my math right (and, as we all know, chances are I screwed that up somehow), it should run around $23 for UPS ground shipping of four 12-packs.
Hmmm….
“People have been advised to refrain from buying ground beef from dubious vendors.”
Umm, wouldn’t this be good advice anytime? The fact that people even need that advice makes me fear for the future of this nation.
All I can say is….’Please pass the peanut butter!’
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I’m kind of with Charity on this one — shouldn’t you follow that advice in general?!
It’d be funny if I weren’t so certain there was something like that actually going on in this town.
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it was in a refrigerated truck. it says so. maybe read that paragraph a third time.
this is called reading comprehension.
It’s still TAINTED WITH E. COLI, dumbass, and they had loaded it anyway.
This is called reading thoroughly. While you’re at that you might also want to check into something called capitalization.
So when’s the BBQ?
On a more serious note, its possible it was loaded for disposal somewhere (though the story excerpt doesn’t say). It would do to let it rot until it was disposed of somewhere. It is a little disturbing to think the meat possibly meant for disposal was in the same truck with meat that was targeted for delivery and use.
I agree, particularly since that would mean that the driver of the truck was responsible for making sure the E. coli tainted stuff remained on the truck while the rest got unloaded at the store(s).
Seems like a safer practice to use a separate truck to ship tainted meat, doesn’t it?
VK… and everyone else…
I’m a retired veteran of 20 years in the grocery biz. The excerpt left out a few things that I picked up on local news reports. The full story jibes with SOP. The meat was known to be tainted and had been returned to the processor. There are specific regulations and processes for the destruction of suspect meat. First and foremost is that the meat must remain separated from clean meat and facilities. It cannot just be brought inside to await destruction. Very often, contaminated lots (and there are far more than you would expect) are sequestered in refrigerated trucks until the facility can be cleared out for the destruction of the bad stuff. The trailers must be locked and stored in a secured pen. That said, there’s not really a lot that will deter a stupid thief.
We get “meat trucks” through our neighborhood all the time. It boggles my mind at the number of folks who actually patronize these fly-by-nights selling meat out of a cooler on the back of a pick up. I mean, you know these guys are being diligent about temp control, cross contamination, etc.
Ugh.
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Thanks for the explanation, Jeff. It’s always nice when someone shares their expertise to help the rest of us understand these kinds of things!
We get the “Cheep Meet 4 Sale Hear!” too, particularly in the summer. There’s one truck that routinely parks on Main Street and offers “Jumboh Shrimp”.
Shrimp? They sure as heck aren’t coming from anywhere nearby, unless Kansas has some thriving shrimp industry I’m unaware of.
Even so, that guy almost always has a line of folks waiting to snap up whatever it is he’s selling.
Which brings up the question… Which will make you more violently ill: tainted meat or tainted seafood? I just don’t understand why folks are willing to risk their gut to save few cents…
Seafood bought at the docks… okay. Maybe I’m just paranoid?
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Not paranoid at all. Every time I see that truck it puts The Fear in me. I get that same Fear every time I go to our local Chinese food place on a Monday and see just how many “seafood” specials they’re running.