In the meat business, there are a lot of things that can go wrong with our products. Sometimes, the quality is less than desirable. Perhaps the packaging is compromised, broken or scarred. In some cases, the formulation may not be perfect, the weights may be slightly off, the labeling might be wrong or the product just doesn’t look right. In other cases, contaminants like small shreds of plastic, tiny metal shavings or other foreign objects can sneak into our products.
Unfortunately, in rare instances, these products can also make people sick. When processing ready-to-eat foods, the leading culprit is usually Listeria monocytogenes. Listeriosis is a painful illness that can have severe complications, causing death in nearly 15 percent of its victims. On the raw side, pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 can make their way into ground beef. When that occurs, and our customers do not handle the product appropriately, they can get very sick. E. colicauses extreme gastrointestinal symptoms, and can lead to renal failure and also death.