August 2008

A friend just sent me a link to Omaha Action 3 News – “Recall Ridden Beef Plant Stays Open: Why?”
Good question and I love the first line – “Another day, another recall from one specific South Omaha meat packing plant.”

Here is the fun part:

An Action 3 News investigation has found ties between the South Omaha plant and Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. According to federal election records, two years ago, Senator Nelson’s re-election campaign received contributions from two top officials of Nebraska Beef.  In 2006 William Lamson, the lawyer for the company, gave Nelson 2 thousand dollars. Lamson is also Nelson’s former law partner. The President of Nebraska Beef has also contributed to Nelson. In 2006 William Hughes wrote Nelson three checks. The first was for $2,000. The second: $2,100. The third: $10,300 thousand.  A grand total of $14,400.

One other note, according to the Washington Post, in 1998 when Nelson was Governor, the State of Nebraska gave Nebraska Beef seven and a half million dollars in tax credits. Nelson was a member of the three man board that okayed those tax breaks.

As I always say, “money talks and E. coli walks.”  Or, is it ‘eat E. coli and die?" Or simply just "eat E. coli!" Or, in Nebraska Beef’s case, they are "in a lot of E. coli."  They should really "get their E. coli together."  Why, because, "they should give an E. coli."

I find it amazing how many people in and out of the beef industry have been helpful – sending me tips and documents – especially inspection reports on Nebraska Beef Ltd.  I also got a few emails today that you can find below:Continue Reading The Science of E. coli in Beef, that is “Political Science”

I am sure glad FSIS made this clear:

Clarification: This recall affects only certain products produced at the Nebraska Beef Ltd. company, located in Omaha. It does not relate, implicate, or otherwise affect beef in the State of Nebraska. Please note this important distinction.

Here is the real problem:

Recall Release CLASS I RECALL
FSIS-RC-029-2008 …

I’m having trouble keeping up with all the companies, mostly retailers, recalling E. coli-contaminated beef, mostly from Nebraska Beef.  Say, who is still buying from them?  The most recent list is:

Whole Foods

City Markets

King Soopers

Fred Meyer

Renna’s Meat

Cub Foods

Bigg’s Markets

Stater Brothers

So, to recap, since Spring of 2007, over…

OK, Topps Meat recalled 21,000,000 pounds of meat and sickened 40; Nebraska Beef has recalled only 6,500,000 pounds and sickened nearly 80.  Topps was only a grinding operation (received primals from slaughter houses from all over the world).  Nebraska Beef was a slaughter house that shipped primals and other intact cuts of meats to various…

We now know that Nebraska Beef E. coli-tainted meet found its way into Coleman Natural Meats and then to Whole Foods and Dorothy Lanes Markets.  Kroger and its subsidiaries, Fred Meyer, City Market and King Soopers seems to have taken their E. coli strait from Nebraska Beef.  It also appears that Whole Foods and the…

Here we go again – Blog Release

Lawsuits Build Against Nebraska Beef as New Recall is Announced

A second Georgia lawsuit arising from E. coli tainted meat sourced from Nebraska Beef Ltd. was filed Friday, just as the beef processing company recalled another 1.2 million pounds of contaminated meat, bringing the total recalled in the…

If I poisoned 85 people, my guess is that I would be facing serious jail time (I can see the Raw Milk and Big Beef folks dancing now).  However, if you’re a company, like Nebraska Beef, that slaughters about 2,000 head of cattle a day, employs about 800 people in Omaha and has successfully sued…