When Cargill Meat Solutions and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recalled approximately 8,500 pounds of ground beef products that was contaminated with E. coli O26 just after midnight on August 28, 2010, I was convinced that it was a plot to get bad news out when no one was watching. I was wrong, the FSIS gets bad news out on every day – even Sundays (but less so). Here are several charts that illustrate the point and one that does it best: