USDA papers: Burger recall followed riskier procedures

NEWARK, N.J.: While the Topps Meat Co. churned out millions of frozen hamburgers a month, beef ground one day was often stored and "reworked" with meat from another production cycle, government documents show.

A conveyor belt that moved raw patties to packaging was marred by "gouges, cracks and tears," inspectors said. They found residue on surfaces that fresh meat came into contact with.

But the plant kept operating, until an outbreak of E. coli last summer and fall sickened at least 40 people in eight states and led to one of the nation's largest beef recalls.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press and interviews show that the now-defunct company cut back on testing for the dangerous pathogen and disregarded sanitary issues, but also that federal food inspectors overlooked crucial evidence that Topps used risky processing procedures and operated under a flawed food safety plan.

"Clearly, something was missed at Topps" when the company became "complacent," Kenneth Petersen, head of the national Office of Field Operations for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, conceded in an interview.

The documents present the most detailed picture yet of what was happening at Topps, which sold its products to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and supermarkets and institutions such as schools, hospitals, restaurants and hotels around the country under the Topps brand as well as several private labels.

Topps had been in business for over six decades and claimed to be the leading U.S. maker of frozen hamburgers before it closed its plant in northern New Jersey and went out of business last year within two weeks of initiating the recalls. The Centers for Disease Control said at least 40 people in eight states were sickened after eating Topps beef.

The recall ultimately comprised nearly 22 million pounds of beef — a year's worth of production.

Former Topps executives declined or did not respond to requests for comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture documents, which were obtained by The Associated Press through Freedom of Information requests.

According to the USDA reports, regulators examining the plant in Elizabeth, N.J., last fall found the company failed to test some raw meat for the potentially fatal bacteria, botched daily cleansings and ignored parts of its own operating framework.

Topps did not require that every batch of meat received from slaughterhouses be certified to be free of E. coli, inspection documents show.

Suppliers don't always test certain cuts, such as steaks and roasts, where any bacteria would usually be on the exterior and could be readily killed by cooking. But when Topps ground such "intact" cuts, any bacteria present was mixed into patties, where interior temperatures of 160 degrees during cooking would be needed to kill it.

"They were doing that trimming and putting it into their ground mixture, but not doing any testing on it themselves to determine if it had E. coli," said Petersen. "That was another avenue for potential contamination."

In a separate interview, Petersen said Topps had decreased end-of-line testing for E. coli from monthly to three times a year. "Somewhere, I don't know if lazy is the right word, but they got complacent," he said.

Topps recalled 332,000 pounds of hamburger on Sept. 25 after authorities in several states reported people becoming ill. The USDA inspection service suspended production the next day, citing deficiencies in sanitation and an inadequate plan that is supposed to outline where contamination might occur and what will be done to prevent it. The plant was barred from reopening without revising its procedures.

Inspectors also questioned Topps' practice of "re-work," in which meat ground on one day could be added to meat during another production cycle. No law prohibits mixing different lots of beef, but food safety experts generally agree it expands the risk of contamination.

"That is a very bad process, and hardly anyone in the industry does that," Petersen said. "If you want to manage E. coli in your plant, it's just not a good idea to go back in time." He said his agency is compiling figures on how many processors nationwide use re-work.

Federal inspectors also criticized sanitary measures at the plant, citing "product residues observed on product contact surfaces" and "recurring deficiencies of unsanitary equipment," including "gouges, cracks and tears" on a conveyor belt.

The deadly bacteria strain, E. coli O157:H7, does not originate in grinding plants. It is harbored mainly in the intestines of cattle, but can get into meat through improper butchering and processing. Grinding operations such as Topps are the last chance to halt the spread of E. coli before the meat is available to the public.

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