One Great Burger, an Elizabeth, N.J., establishment, is expanding its Jan. 10, 2011 recall to include an undetermined amount of additional ground beef products that may have become spoiled, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

As noted in the original release, the products subject to this recall are adulterated because the establishment's food safety plan was inadequate to produce safe product. In a continued investigation of the Jan. 10, 2011 recall, FSIS became aware of additional consumer complaints of discoloration and off-odors in the products. FSIS has determined that this ground beef is also adulterated and should not be consumed. There have been no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products. Individuals concerned about an illness should contact a physician.

The following products additionally subject to recall are 4-pound boxes of "Winn Dixie beef patty 100% BEEF." Each box contains 16 frozen patties weighing ¼ lb. each.

Each box bears establishment number "EST. 34575" within the USDA mark of inspection. The products have "Sell by" dates of "01/01/11" through "02/27/11" printed on the bottom of each box, followed by the lot code "204110." Similar products with later "Sell by" dates are not subject to this recall. The products were produced between April 2010 and May 2010 and were distributed to grocery stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. While the products listed above have been unavailable for purchase since May 2010, consumers who may have purchased them are urged to remove them from their freezers and discard them.

Each box bears establishment number "EST. 34575" within the USDA mark of inspection. The products were produced between Jan. 2010 and May 2010 and contain "PACKED ON" dates ranging from July 2010 to Nov. 2010. The products were distributed to institutions nationwide.

Source: FSIS

2,200 pounds of beef trim recalled

Colorado Meat Packers, a Denver, Colo., establishment, is recalling approximately 2,234 pounds of beef trim that was improperly labeled and potentially adulterated, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The product label includes "For Cooking Only," indicating that it is intended for further processing to apply a full lethality at a federally inspected establishment. Because the product was sent to a federal establishment that does not conduct lethality operations, the product must be removed from commerce.

The following product subject to recall is a 2,234-pound combo bin of all beef trimmings. The bin bears the establishment number "EST. 17086" inside the USDA mark of inspection, can be identified by the case code "9002 N." The ground beef trim was produced on December 2, 2010 and sent to a federal establishment in Colorado for further processing without testing. All testing conducted on other trim produced on the same day from the same source materials was negative for E. coli O157:H7.

The problem was discovered as a result of an FSIS investigation and review of company records. FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

Source: FSIS

U.S. boneless beef removed from Taiwan stores

Taiwan says two hypermarkets have removed 3,300 pounds (1,600 kilogram) of boneless U.S. beef because a banned growth drug was found in the meat. The AP reports that Taiwan's Department of Health said residue of beta agonist was detected in the three shipments of beef ordered by Costco and local hypermarket chain RT-Mart. The statement issued Saturday said all the beef has been removed.

The drug, under the trade name Paylean, makes pigs and cows develop muscle tissue faster. It is banned in Taiwan but allowed in several countries including the United States and South Korea.

Source: Associated Press

934 more farms banned in German dioxin scare

German authorities banned an additional 934 farms from selling eggs, poultry and pork after it was discovered that one company had hidden its deliveries of contaminated livestock feed, according to AP reports. Prosecutors in Lower Saxony state have opened an investigation after finding out about the tainted feed deliveries to those farms, Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said.

"This is a scandal within the scandal," she said.

Last week, investigators banned sales from 5,000 farms after they found excessive levels of dioxin in eggs, chicken and pork. All but 400 of those farms had been cleared as of last Friday. German authorities said that it was likely that some products had been sold to consumers but added that consumption of those products does not pose a human health risk due to the low levels of dioxin.

Source: Associated Press

Dutch researchers: Eat bugs, not meat

Researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands say that insects produce far less greenhouse gases than cattle and pigs do, and would thus be a viable alternative to eating meat. Natural News reports that the study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, found that pigs, for instance, produce up to one hundred times more greenhouse gases than the equivalent weight of mealworms.

The study found that greenhouse gas emissions of mealworms, crickets, locusts was lower than that of pigs, and that ammonia emissions was lower among insects than cattle. Researchers did not verify that producing insects for protein was as environmentally friendly as producing cattle and pigs, pound for pound, so it is not known how insect raising would be an improvement over livestock raising in real life performances.

Source: Natural News