It seems to be the classic story of contamination and disease: a recent discovery of tainted beef has resulted in a necessary recall of nearly 2 million pounds. This kind of case appears to have affected many different types of products, not limited to one kind of ground beef.
NBC News recently reports that the culprit behind the disputed shipments is the Michigan-based Wolverine Packing Company. 11 people in four different states have been found to have contracted complications from E. coli so far due to this company’s meat generated between March 31 and April 18.
As of this writing, the United States Food Safety and Inspection Services has been aware of the outbreak for a week and is working to stem the spread of infection. In the official release by the USDA, the agency labeled this as a “Class I” recall, meaning that it poses an immediate threat to anyone that consumes the contested items.
It also outlined some of the things that companies want to keep an eye on in a recall situation that may have victims in many different locations.
“Factors that can contribute to the size of the recall include potential contamination of additional products due to a lack of microbiological independence between lot production, as well as a deficiency in supportive record-keeping by distributors,” it reads.
When it comes to something as serious as E. Coli, all of the possible dangers need to be anticipated in the production of food labels. This can mean using color label printers to identify beef products so that they match up with other shipping information and records. The clearer this information is, the easier it might be to get the word out when something bad happens.
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