Topps Meat Company - Controversy

Controversy

21.7 million pounds of frozen ground beef products produced between September 25, 2006, and September 25, 2007, by the Topps Meat Company were recalled in September 2007 due to Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination concerns. At the time, this was the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history, after Hudson Foods Company's recall of 25 million pounds of ground beef in 1997. Product samples subsequently tested positive for contamination with E. coli. The first reported case of illness linked to the contamination occurred on July 5, 2007.

On October 4, 2007, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Topps Meat over the contaminated meat and its consequences. Also on October 4, 2007, the USDA served Topps Meat with a "notice of intended enforcement" (which is a move just short of suspending the rest of the company’s meat production) because of "inadequate process controls" also in the company’s non-ground beef production processes. On October 5, 2007, Topps Meat ceased operations; 77 workers were laid off while about 10 others remained employed to assist the USDA's investigation.

"In one week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large," Anthony D'Urso, chief operating officer, said in a statement.

USDA's first positive test results for E. coli contamination came back September 7, 2007, but they waited for confirming tests before ordering a recall 18 days later. Criticism of that 18-day delay in seeking the recall of millions of pounds of tainted Topps Meat ground beef caused the USDA to promise to speed up warnings about contaminated meat in the future.

As of October 7, 2007, 29 people in eight states had fallen ill after consuming hamburgers made by Topps Meat Co.