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From: TSS ()
Subject: Most recalled meat is never recovered, likely is eaten
Date: December 3, 2007 at 12:27 pm PST

Most recalled meat is never recovered, likely is eaten

By Julie Schmit and Barbara Hansen, USA TODAY
Consumers may draw comfort from federal meat recalls that alert stores, restaurants and households to potentially unsafe meat.
But most recalled meat is never recovered — raising the possibility that it was consumed before or even after the recall — according to a USA TODAY analysis of recall data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For 73 meat recalls this year and last, recovery rates per recall averaged 44%, the analysis shows. But for five recalls that followed reports of consumer illness, recovery rates per recall averaged just 20%.

Recovery rates vary for several reasons, including how quickly meat gets to market and the number of days between production and when problems are detected.

"The closer those dates are to each other, the more we get back," says Kenneth Petersen, USDA assistant administrator.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Consumers | US Department of Agriculture
He says recalls spawned by reports of illness have low recovery rates because weeks or months can pass between when a product is produced, someone gets sick and illness is linked with food.

In contrast, recalls resulting from the USDA's product testing tend to result in higher recovery rates.

The USDA, which regulates meat and poultry, routinely samples thousands of products for harmful bacteria before they leave factories. Test results take a few days to produce.

During that time, companies can legally ship a product. If tests are positive, the product is recalled. Because the meat has been in the market a few days, recovery rates tend to be good: 62% per recall, on average.

There have been 54 meat recalls this year, up from 34 last year. For the most recent recalls, recovery rates are not yet available.

To get more consumers to check homes for recalled meats, the USDA next year plans to publicize names of retailers selling meat that was later recalled. "We think it would be helpful for people to know, 'Gee, that is my store,' " says Petersen.

Recall notices now posted on the USDA's website typically name states where a product was sent but not retailers, unless their names are on the product. Retailer names have been considered confidential business information, as with any customer lists.

Company actions also affect recalls. Typically, recallers alert their customers, often distributors or wholesalers, who alert their customers, and so on. But recovery of products isn't a given.

On Sept. 29, Topps Meat recalled 21.7 million pounds of frozen hamburger because of potential contamination with the deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. The recall, the second-biggest ever for ground beef, was well publicized. Still, New Jersey officials found 141 boxes of recalled burgers in 12 state stores about a month after the recall.

Some retailers said they didn't know about the recall, says New Jersey consumer affairs spokesman Jeff Lamm.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-12-02-meat-recalls_N.htm

YOU CAN include mad cow protein recalls too, they just continue to feed it out. ...

10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. MBM IN COMMERCE USA 2007

Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PST RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES -- CLASS II ___________________________________ PRODUCT Bulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling’s 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried, Recall # V-024-2007 CODE Cattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007 RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Pfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007. Firm initiated recall is ongoing. REASON Blood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was cross-contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement. VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 42,090 lbs. DISTRIBUTION WI

___________________________________ PRODUCT Custom dairy premix products: MNM ALL PURPOSE Pellet, HILLSIDE/CDL Prot-Buffer Meal, LEE, M.-CLOSE UP PX Pellet, HIGH DESERT/ GHC LACT Meal, TATARKA, M CUST PROT Meal, SUNRIDGE/CDL PROTEIN Blend, LOURENZO, K PVM DAIRY Meal, DOUBLE B DAIRY/GHC LAC Mineral, WEST PIONT/GHC CLOSEUP Mineral, WEST POINT/GHC LACT Meal, JENKS, J/COMPASS PROTEIN Meal, COPPINI 8# SPECIAL DAIRY Mix, GULICK, L-LACT Meal (Bulk), TRIPLE J PROTEIN/LACTATION, ROCK CREEK/GHC MILK Mineral, BETTENCOURT/GHC S.SIDE MK-MN, BETTENCOURT #1/GHC MILK MINR, V&C DAIRY/GHC LACT Meal, VEENSTRA, F/GHC LACT Meal, SMUTNY, A-BYPASS ML W/SMARTA, Recall # V-025-2007 CODE The firm does not utilize a code - only shipping documentation with commodity and weights identified. RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Rangen, Inc, Buhl, ID, by letters on February 13 and 14, 2007. Firm initiated recall is complete. REASON Products manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement. VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 9,997,976 lbs. DISTRIBUTION ID and NV

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2007/ENF00 996.html

USA NOR-98 SCRAPIE UPDATE AUGUST 31, 2007 RISES TO 5 DOCUMENTED CASES

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/

CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE MAD COW BASE, CWD, SCRAPIE UPDATE OCT 2007

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/

Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy TME

http://transmissible-mink-encephalopathy.blogspot.com/

Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in
the United States

http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/

TSS

• Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy TME

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