Topps Meat Closes After E. coli Contamination
Posted by
David RowellOctober 06, 2007 7:00 AMLast week, almost 22 million pounds of tainted ground beef, produced by Topps Meat Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was recalled by the USDA, the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history. On Friday, the CDC announced that an E. coli outbreak in 8 states, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, was linked to Topps Brand Ground Beef.
The recalled beef constitued "an entire year of Topps' production." Topps, which began producing ground beef before World War II, could not withstand this crisis. Late Friday Topps announced that it was going out of business effective today, because of losses caused by the recall.
Although no deaths have been reported, the tainted meat has sickened at least 32 people in eights states, according to the CDC. Topps already faces at least two lawsuits over the tainted ground beef, including claims by a New York girl and a Florida girl who became ill after eating the product.
For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Defective an Dangerous Products.