Beef recalls making consumers wary

WASHINGTON – Food recalls related to ground beef and E. coli bacteria have reached levels not seen in several years, according to food safety experts, sickening 14 people in six Western states and raising concerns that meat production standards have slipped.

There have been eight recalls related to E. coli bacteria in food so far this year, compared with eight similar recalls for all of 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Seven of the eight E. coli-related recalls this year have involved ground beef, and several included other cuts of beef as well. The recalls have involved more than 6 million pounds of ground beef, according to the agency’s statistics.

By comparison, the amount of ground beef recalled in all of 2006 was 156,235 pounds.

Recalls involving the E. coli strain O157:H7, a bacteria that lives in cow’s intestines, occur with more regularity in late spring and early summer, food experts say, when temperatures rise and more cattle appear to carry the bacteria, which the animals tolerate.

Contamination of meat occurs during slaughtering when feces and intestinal material may accidentally come in contact with portions of the carcass that are trimmed for retail beef cuts.

The cumulative size of this year’s recalls is unusual, meat industry experts said. Previous notable recalls of ground beef because of E. coli fears occurred in 1997 – when Hudson Foods recalled 25 million pounds of beef – and 2002, when Con Agra Foods had to recall 19 million pounds of ground beef.

Serious illnesses have resulted from E. coli contamination recently, frightening some consumers. USDA says that at least 14 people have fallen ill from E. coli in beef this year, but some groups contend the number is as high as 38.

Cynthia Cintura of Hemet, Calif., said she thought her daughter Lauren, 4, who will begin kindergarten in the fall, was dying last month when she fell ill. Lauren was stricken with E. coli poisoning, Cintura said, after eating spaghetti sauce that contained ground beef made by United Food Group LLC of California and sold through a local market, Stater Bros.

Cintura said her daughter started to complain about a stomachache on the last week of preschool, a symptom she initially interpreted as a reluctance to attend class. But the pain became more frequent and intense, she said, and then was accompanied by bloody diarrhea.

Doctors at the local urgent care center, she said, thought the cause was salmonella, another food-borne bacteria, and sent Lauren home with antibiotics.

But Cintura, afraid that would not be effective, sought care at a larger hospital, and Lauren was transferred to a children’s hospital in San Diego, which confirmed the E. coli diagnosis and hospitalized her 21 days. Lauren was moved to an intensive care unit and put on dialysis just two days after arriving at the hospital, “when her kidneys shut down,” Cintura said.

“It was horrible, horrible,” said Cintura. “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. It was the worst experience of my life. You don’t think it could happen to you, but it did.”

Lauren eventually received eight dialysis treatments and five blood transfusions and was too sick to eat for 11 days. She has since recovered, though doctors will monitor her health for possible kidney damage.

Government, meat industry and food safety officials say that there is no obvious reason for a rise in E. coli contamination this year.

“What’s significant right now is the size of the recalls and the number of consumers that have gotten sick because of this,” said William Marler, a Seattle attorney who represents E. coli victims who fell ill this year.

Many recalls occur before tainted beef is widely distributed. That was the case in a June 8 recall announced by Tyson Foods Inc. USDA said that testing by Tyson proved positive for E. coli, and that 40,440 pounds of beef were recalled. Tyson discovered the E. coli contamination on June 2, prompting a recall in 12 states.

“That really was a situation where there was a test and the product happened to come back positive,” said USDA spokesman Steven Cohen. “That didn’t involve illnesses.”

In the case of United Food, the recall was expanded twice this month after it became clear that meat distributed in six states was involved. According to a USDA statement, “Illnesses occurred in Arizona (6), California (3), Colorado (2), Idaho (1), Utah (1) and Wyoming (1). Illness onset dates ranged between April 25 and May 18. All patients have recovered.”

The Cintura family sued United Food last week, seeking damages. A United Food spokesman said USDA is investigating the E. coli contamination, and that it is still unclear how it occurred. The company, he said, has never had an E. coli problem before.

United Food does not slaughter cattle itself but instead buys beef to make its hamburger from a number of suppliers.