Unsanitary packing conditions, diseased cows, and roach-infested processing plants. These are just some of the reasons behind the most infamous meat recalls in U.S. history.
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00:00unsanitary packing conditions, diseased cows, and roach-infested processing plants.
00:06These are just some of the reasons behind the most infamous meat recalls in U.S. history.
00:11The smallest recall on our list concerns the over 2 million pounds of poultry that Simmons Prepared Foods recalled in 2019.
00:20The reason for this recall was that an internal inspection uncovered metal contamination in some poultry items.
00:27Thus, the Gentry Arkansas Company enacted a recall of whole chickens, chicken pieces, and tenderloins that could have also contained metal.
00:35All the questionable chicken came out of the plant between October 21st and November 4th, 2019,
00:42and headed to institutions in eight states, such as schools, hospitals, and restaurants.
00:47The recall affected local institutions in Arkansas and nearby Oklahoma, as well as in more distant states like Arizona and Pennsylvania.
00:55While institutional buyers were asked to dispose of or return the products, the worry was that some institutions still had affected products in their freezers.
01:04Luckily, nobody reported any mishaps with the potentially affected poultry products.
01:09Of the two huge recalls ConAgra has on our list, the smallest and most recent happened in 2023, when it recalled 2.6 million pounds of canned meat from store shelves.
01:20The recalled canned meat was sold under various labels, including both meat and poultry varieties of Vienna sausages from Armistar, Goya, and other brands.
01:31The canned meat in question was packaged improperly and may have been affected by leakage or pathogens as a result.
01:37ConAgra found that some of the meat was spoiling in the can.
01:41The recalled cans were packed between December 12th, 2022 and January 13th, 2023, and had been shipped to retail locations throughout the U.S.
01:50Officials say if you have bought any of these products, either throw them away or return them.
01:55At the time of the recall, nobody had complained of becoming ill.
01:59The initial beef and veal recall from the Huntington Meat Packing Plant in Montebello, California took place on January 18th, 2010,
02:08and included 864,000 pounds of meat for products made between January 22nd, 2009 and January 4th, 2010.
02:18The recall eventually expanded to include 4.9 million more pounds of products, bringing the total recall up to nearly 5.76 million pounds of beef and veal products.
02:29The recall occurred after an inspection by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS,
02:36uncovered E. coli contamination and unsanitary packing conditions that didn't follow the company's food safety plan.
02:43One employee even pleaded guilty in 2015 to providing the FSIS with falsified documents that claimed the company's meat was E. coli-free.
02:52Once it became clear the company's food safety records were unreliable, at least as far back as a year,
02:58the recall expanded to cover everything produced in that period.
03:01Nobody was reported to have become ill due to the contamination. The plant is now permanently closed.
03:07The most recent meat recall on our list happened when 7.2 million pounds of Boar's Head deli meats were removed from shelves starting on July 26th, 2024,
03:18after a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak.
03:21What began with the Maryland Department of Health finding Listeria on a liverworse sample turned into a larger recall as more people became sick.
03:29The recall initially concerned 207,528 pounds of product produced in the company's Virginia plant at the same time as the tainted liverworse sample,
03:39between June 11th and July 17th, 2024. It soon extended to products from May 10th and after, and came to include 71 total products.
03:49As of September 2024, the Listeria outbreak caused 59 reported illnesses in 19 states.
03:56So really understanding the health implications here is so important."
04:00Of those who fell ill, all required hospitalization, and 10 died.
04:04The recall of beef processed at the Rancho Feeding Corp's slaughter facility in 2014
04:09was nothing less than a nightmare. No matter how well ranchers took care of their cattle before
04:14slaughter, the fact that they passed through the Rancho Feeding Corp facility made them suspect,
04:20because healthy cows weren't separated from diseased cows. The recall involved everything
04:25that went through the facility for nearly a year between January 1st, 2013 and January 7th, 2014.
04:32After an employee provided a tip that the facility was slaughtering
04:35diseased and potentially cancerous cattle, the USDA raided the premises.
04:40It turned out that the company had been slaughtering diseased cows
04:43after closing time, when there weren't any USDA inspectors around.
04:47Several employees and the owner of Rancho Feeding Corp were sentenced to prison terms
04:52for their role in the cover-up. After the recall, scandal, and imprisonments,
04:56Rancho Feeding Corp closed down, and the empty facility was purchased by another company.
05:01While the recall carried a high health risk, nobody appears to have become sick from tainted meat.
05:07While some of the recalls here produced no reported illnesses, or at least relatively few,
05:12the Salmonella Newport outbreak at JBS Tullesen in 2018 left hundreds ill. In total,
05:19the company recalled over 12 million pounds of beef. The recall covered meat packaged between
05:24July 26th and September 7th, 2018. The meat had gone out to over 100 retailers,
05:31and customers were asked to either throw the beef away or return it to the store.
05:35The most important thing that people can do is throw away
05:39any raw beef products that they have associated with this outbreak."
05:43People started getting sick on March 22nd, 2018, with the last reported illness on March 22nd,
05:502019, meaning the outbreak lasted a staggering year before it was under control. Ultimately,
05:56403 people in 30 states fell ill. Of those, 117 were hospitalized,
06:02though no deaths were reported as a result of the outbreak.
06:06It took nearly 20 people succumbing to E. coli before the illnesses were traced to ConAgra
06:12Beef Company in Greeley, Colorado, in 2002. What started out as a 354,200-pound recall of meat on
06:21June 30th, 2002, increased to 18.6 million pounds of ground beef and beef trimmings by July 19th,
06:302002. The recall happened after the FSIS found E. coli in a beef sample at the Greeley plant
06:37on June 19th, and were able to trace 18 cases to the very same strain of E. coli.
06:43The recalled meat was produced between April 12th and July 11th,
06:462002. The first E. coli symptoms started cropping up in consumers on June 1st,
06:522002. A total of 18 became sick, seven were hospitalized, and five developed a type of
06:58kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome. However, none died.
07:03The TOPS meat recall began on September 25th, 2007, and was for 331,582 pounds of frozen hamburger
07:13patties and 21 other beef products. The plant that produced the meat was in Elizabeth, New Jersey,
07:19but illnesses caused by E. coli contamination spread through New Jersey and seven other states,
07:24including New York and Florida. By September 29th, the recall reached 21.7 million pounds of products
07:31sent out to grocery retailers and institutions across the U.S. The recall expanded because the
07:37company didn't have good process controls throughout its plant to ensure that other
07:41meat was safe. What's more, the company often carried meat from one day over to the next,
07:46which made it more difficult to trace and stop the contamination. All told,
07:5040 people became sick due to the outbreak between July 5th and September 24th, 2007.
07:57At least 21 were hospitalized, though nobody died. The small, 67-year-old meat company was
08:02completely sunk by the recall and closed permanently shortly after the recall.
08:07The earliest large meat recall on our list happened between July and August of 1997,
08:14when Hudson Foods recalled 25 million pounds of ground beef that had gone to a variety of
08:19stores and restaurants. It began small, with just 20,000 pounds of meat in the first recall. However,
08:24it expanded to 1.2 million pounds and again to 25 million pounds when the Columbus, Nebraska plant
08:31realized more meat might be contaminated with E. coli than originally thought. Like with the
08:36Topps meat recall, Hudson Foods contaminated multiple batches by carrying over meat from
08:41one production day to another. Thus, E. coli could contaminate many more products in a long,
08:46continual chain. A total of 15 people who had eaten infected meat from Hudson Foods
08:51became sick between June 14th and July 14th, 1997. While five were hospitalized,
08:57none developed kidney failure or died. This recall also inspired new federal food safety protocols
09:03in 1998. There was no doubt that a huge recall was necessary when Pilgrim's Pride discovered
09:10Listeria monocytogenes in its roasted chicken and turkey breast products, as well as its pre-cooked
09:16deli-style chicken. The recall started with only 295,000 pounds of products, starting on October
09:2312th, 2002. However, after finding Listeria throughout the entire Franconia, Pennsylvania
09:29plant, a recall of all 27.4 million pounds of fresh and frozen, pre-cooked poultry products
09:36the facility had produced between May 1st and October 11th of 2002 was warranted. At the time
09:42of the recall, the company had already delivered products across the U.S. to grocery stores,
09:47restaurants, and institutions, meaning they had to be pulled off shelves quickly. At the same time,
09:53consumers were asked to return them to stores. Not only was the recall intense,
09:57but so were the repercussions of the Listeria outbreak. 46 people fell ill in 22 states
10:03between July 18th and September 30th, 2002. Almost all of them had to seek hospital treatment. Of
10:10those who became seriously ill, three had miscarriages or stillbirths, and seven died.
10:16In 1998, Sara Lee's parent company, Bill Maher Foods, recalled 35 million pounds of deli meat
10:23and hot dogs, worth $76 million. However, it was a slow recall even after consumers
10:29started contracting Listeria. Consumers started to get sick on August 2nd, 1998. However,
10:35officials didn't trace it to Sara Lee for a while, with the recall not happening
10:39until over four months later on December 22nd, 1998. A big failing of the recall was that there
10:45was no press release early on, almost no publicity about it, and no mention of how
10:50large and deadly the Listeria outbreak was until January 28th, 1999. Meanwhile, over 100 people
10:57became sick from Listeria in 22 states, ultimately resulting in six miscarriages and 21 deaths by
11:04January 20th, 1999. At the time of the incident, there wasn't as many food safety regulations in
11:10place as there are now, and the USDA wasn't as quick to push for a recall. While there was no
11:15proof the company was selling tainted meat on purpose, inspections uncovered old meat and
11:21roach infestations in the plant. There were multiple lawsuits, including one it settled
11:25with the U.S. government for $4.4 million, and Sara Lee pleaded guilty to federal misdemeanor
11:31charges. The biggest meat recall in U.S. history happened in 2008, when Hallmark Westland recalled
11:38a whopping 143 million pounds of ground beef. While nobody became ill or died, it was still
11:45a big deal. The recall happened after the Humane Society released a video on January 30th, 2008,
11:51revealing sick cows receiving cruel and inhumane treatment at Hallmark Westland. Some were so sick
11:57they couldn't walk.
11:58They're called downer cows, cattle too sick to walk.
12:01Because of the risk of mad cow disease, the law required that federal veterinarians should have
12:06been called to determine if the cows were safe to be sold for consumption. However, they weren't.
12:12While most of the meat in the recall had likely already been eaten,
12:15officials still needed to sound the alarm for safety's sake. The February 17th, 2008 recall
12:21covered all beef products the company had produced for the last two years. Assuming that some people
12:26might still have some in their freezer. Despite the lengthy time period, it was deemed a Class
12:312 recall, which meant that there wasn't a huge worry about consumers becoming sick.
12:36However, two employees were fired and charged with felony and misdemeanor
12:40animal cruelty charges. Ultimately, the Chino, California company declared bankruptcy.