Fred Pritzker calls on meat suppliers to pay medical bills incurred by victims of E. coli

Dec 30 2009

National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker is calling on National Steak and Poultry company to immediately pay all medical bills and lost wages incurred by victims of a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 associated with blade-tenderized steaks.

“Regulation is essentially useless if it doesn't protect consumers from known hazards”

The association was drawn by USDA in a public health investigation that prompted National Steak and Poultry to recall 248,000 pounds of steak, beef tips, beef medallions and boneless beef trim that the company says was primarily sold to three restaurant chains: Moe's, Carino's Italian Grill and KRM restaurants (which operates the 54^th Street Bar and Grill) in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington.

These are the same six states where the USDA, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several state health departments, has identified a cluster of at least 19 E. coli illnesses tied to contaminated beef. However, recent reports suggest the number of states involved may be at least 16.

The tainted meat was produced in October at National Steak and Poultry's plant in Owasso, Oklahoma. Pritzker's Minneapolis-based law firm, Pritzker Olsen, P.A., was the first organization to publicly disclose that state and federal health officials were investigating a multi-state E. coli outbreak related to mechanically tenderized steak products. The announcement came a week before USDA announced the recall and outbreak on the afternoon of Dec. 24.

“It is a sad fact of life that meat processors selling adulterated products that harm or kill unsuspecting citizens often do whatever it takes to avoid responsibility for the harms and losses caused by their products,” Pritzker said. “In this case, National Steak and Poultry should step up and do the right thing.”

In 1999, the USDA banned the sale of any mechanically tenderized raw beef—technically referred to as non-intact—that is contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The prohibition was created because blade tenderizing, needle tenderizing, brine injections and other mechanical processes designed to improve the flavor of a steak also can drive surface bacteria deep enough where it can survive cooking temperatures if prepared rare or medium. On intact cuts, surface E. coli dies readily in flames and heat.

Pritzker said packing plants, processors, restaurants, grocery stores and other purveyors of meat have been doing a great injustice to the public by not identifying steaks and roasts that have been injected or otherwise mechanically tenderized. For the sake of E. coli prevention, the federal government must step in and now require sellers of meat to label their products with appropriate warning. Testing for bacteria at the source is far from foolproof and not enough to protect human health.

“Regulation is essentially useless if it doesn't protect consumers from known hazards,” Pritzker said. “In this case, people have the right to know the steak they are choosing could be laced with a deadly pathogen.”