Meat Recalls and E. coli: Just the Beginning?

The Topps Meat recall -- and the dozens sickened by eating E. coli-tainted beef -- has some analysts worried that there could be a return to the bad old days of meat contamination, according to USA Today.

The Department of Agriculture and the meat industry were seen as models for other aspects of the un-policed food system because the rate of E. coli contamination in meat plummeted through the late 1990s and the first part of this decade. Comprehensive government testing and widespread promotion of good practices by industry groups helped reverse a growing distrust of meat safety.

It's a standard that the Food and Drug Administration has been asked to meet, as it confronts an increasingly globalized food production network for the 80% of the American food supply for which it is responsible. The string of recalls that resulted from the discovery of toxic ingredients in pet food, toothpaste and other food and drug products highlighted the failings of the FDA -- especially in comparison to the apparent success of the USDA.

So the Topps Meat recall will be an important test. Were reforms at the USDA and the meat industry truly effective? Is this an anomaly or an indicator of worse to come? The answers to those questions will be important not only for American meat eaters, but every American who shops at a grocery store where packaged foods from all over the world wait on the shelves.

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