Food Poisoning Law Blog

According to a USDA-FSIS announcement, Snapps Ferry Packing, a Tennessee firm, has voluntarily recalled approximately 102 pounds of hamburger patties and bulk ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

The products subject to recall are:

• 4-pound packages of "GROUND BEEF PATTIES."
• Various weight bulk packages of "GROUND BEEF."

Each product subject to recall bears the establishment number "Est. 9085" inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as a "PACKED ON" date of "DEC.11.07" or "DEC.12.07."  The labels have “Packaged by Snapp Ferry” on them (see label right).

The products were sold at the Snapp Ferry retail counter in Afton, Tenn., on Dec. 11 and 12, 2007, according to the USDA-FSIS announcement. Because the incubation period for E. coli is generally between 3 and 8 days, people who have eaten the recalled Snapp Ferry ground beef or hamburger patties should watch for symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 poisoning, including severe abdominal cramping, nausea and bloody diarrhea.

The problem was discovered through routine USDA-FSIS testing. USDA has recently begun to enter data about E. coli isolates found in recalled meat into the PulseNet database, a database maintained by the CDC of the genetic fingerprints of pathogenic foodborne bacteria, including but not limited to E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella, and Shigella.  This information is used to help uncover multi-state foodborne outbreaks and to prevent future outbreaks.

USDA-FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of the recalled Snapp Ferry hamburgers or ground beef, but this could be due to the meat being recently sold and the long incubation period of E. coli O157:H7.