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Meat-eaters put a lot of faith in USDA inspection facilities, which are often overwhelmed by an endless flow of animals ready for slaughter to meet our seemingly endless demand for meat.
Cutting back on meat has tremendous benefits for the environment. And, it may keep you safe from food-borne illnesses when there's a slip-up at a processing plant like the one that happened recently in Chino, CA.
American Beef Packers Inc., recalled nearly 25,000 pounds of raw beef that are not safe to eat last weekend, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Inspectors at the facility pulled a possibly contaminated carcass off of the production line and took a few samples for testing. While they were waiting for the results to come back, the questionable carcass was released into the production line where it was butchered into various cuts and ground meat mix, as CNN reported.
The wholesale distributor sent the questionable meats out to various places in California and Oregon, according to the USDA.
Anyone in those states who buys beef should look for establishment number "EST. 34741" inside the USDA mark of inspection, the USDA said.
While there are no confirmed cases of illnesses due to this batch of meat, the USDA is concerned that some of it is in the fridges and freezers of people in California and Oregon. The Food Safety and Inspection Service urges people who have bought beef recently to check the label for EST. 34741 and, if it is found, either throw it away or return it to the store where it was bought, according to its press release.
A few weeks ago, another massive recall was underway when Tyson recalled nearly 40,000 pounds of its Weaver chicken patties after some consumers found pieces of rubber in their meal, according to Reuters.
In that instance, the USDA labeled the recall as Class 1, the strictest classification of recall where the product may cause serious harm or death. The USDA classification rubric says of a Class 1 recall, "This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death."
Tyson, the country's largest meat processor, did not say how many customers found rubber in their food. Nor did it disclose how the rubber from the machines used for processing slipped into the patties, according to Reuters.
That recall followed one just a few months earlier of 12-million pounds of frozen ready-to-eat chicken strips, which may have been contaminated.
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