The plant is doing a VOLUNTARY recall because there MIGHT be a
POSSIBILITY of an E. Coli contamination. :

"Omaha, Nebraska- The United States Department of Agriculture announced
on Friday that Nebraska Beef Ltd. from Omaha, a meat packing company
is recalling about 1.2 million pounds of beef. It was revealed that it
might be contaminated with E. Coli, and that the meat packing Nebraska
Beef plant is voluntarily recalling the meat because of possible
contamination."

"The beef recall is "Class 1" meaning that there is a reasonable
likelihood or probability that consuming the beef will cause adverse,
serious health consequences."

Nothing said about causing death as Suki reports.

(There is a reasonable likelihood or probability that if I stand out in
the middle of a golf green during a lightening storm, I MAY get struck
by lightening!) Likelihoods and probabilities need to be taken into
account that these warnings are directed at HUMAN consumers.

"The Food Inspection and Safety arm of the USDA stated that the beef
has been sent to different locations across the USA and was produced
on June 17th, June 24th, and July 8th. The sub prime and prime cuts of
beef are large sections of cows and result in meat such as rib meat
and chuck beef meat, that can be reduced to smaller cuts for family
sized or individual packaging. It can also be set up in boxed beef
or carcasses that have been partly cut up prior to shipping." This
is the same warning regarding beef being recalled by "Whole Foods"
stores that was done on Friday: "A Whole Foods spokeswoman said it had
received reports that seven people in Massachusetts and two people in
Pennsylvania who shopped at Whole Foods Market became ill. As in the
earlier recall, all the beef being recalled now was sold to companies
that planned to further process the meat. So product labels likely will
not include the "EST 19336" code that identified Nebraska Beef."

The report goes on to say: "Symptoms of E. coli infection include
stomach cramps and diarrhea. Cooking ground beef to an internal
temperature of at least 160 degrees should kill E. coli bacteria,
if they are present."

The report also states: "Federal officials said at least 31 cases of
E. coli poisoning in 12 states and Canada had been linked to the meat
Nebraska Beef is now recalling, but officials did not name the states."

The first recall was for 5.3 million pounds of beef from that facility.
With the first recall and this second recall there are only 49 cases of
people sick from e.coli- no deaths.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5937764.html :

WASHINGTON -- It can be legal to sell steaks and roasts that carry a
potentially deadly strain of E. coli. But it is not legal to sell that
meat if it is going to be used to make ground beef. As meat makes its
way from packer to distributor to retailer, those distinctions can get
lost, as Austin-based Whole Foods found out in last week's recall. The
natural food retailer pulled fresh ground beef from some of its stores
after seven customers in Massachusetts fell ill with a strain of E.
coli that has sickened people in 11 other states, the District of
Columbia and Canada. No one in Texas was reported affected.

The ground beef that Whole Foods recalled was made using primal or
intact cuts -- meat typically used for steaks and roasts -- produced by
Nebraska Beef under the Coleman Natural Meats brand, Whole Foods said.
Regulators do not monitor meat sold for steaks and roasts as closely as
meat sold for ground beef because those primal cuts are less likely to
make people sick. For example, if a steak is contaminated, the bacteria
is most likely on the outside and killed during cooking. By contrast,
with ground beef, the pathogen gets mixed in and can survive if the
interior isn't heated to 160 degrees.

Many people feeding ferrets raw meats don't even feed beef, much less
slabs of ribs or large steaks and roasts. Fewer still feed ground beef.
http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/08/usda-1673.html :

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody
diarrhea, dehydration, and in the most severe cases, kidney failure.
The very young, seniors and persons with weak immune systems are the
most susceptible to foodborne illness. Anyone with signs or symptoms
of foodborne illness should consult a medical professional. E. coli
is much more serious for people than for ferrets! Because it takes 24
hours for humans to digest food that gives the bacteria a good long
time to develop harmful levels.

Suki didn't specify the study references where ferrets have died and or
suffered chronic kidney disease from E.coli But I found some references
that shows the infections were just that - STUDIES wherein the domestic
ferrets were deliberately infected with the e.coli :
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/Ferrets06/diseases.htm
The only other deaths I could locate from digestive infection
(toxoplasmosis) was regarding BFF in the Louisville Zoological garden
back in June of 1992. Toxoplasma Gondii were the culprits of this
outbreak and resulted in the deaths of 2 adults and 6 kits immediately
and later 13 more adults died (from 6 to 69 months later) that had
been infected at the same time as the outbreak.

The good thing about feeding human grade raw meaty bones to your
ferrets, besides the healthy benefits they offer, is that IF there
happens to be a recall such as this one- the ferret caretaker is
likely to know exactly where the food came from and whether it could
be tainted or not, MUCH more quickly than any contamination present
in animal kibble! it took hundreds and hundreds of sick and dying pets
through the course of a year to bring to attention the contaminated pet
foods. While only a few dozen sick people bring to light an issue with
raw meat.

Regards,
Kim

please visit : for ferret help and info:
http://holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi
http://ferretopia.proboards51.com/index.cgi
yahoo groups Natural Ferrets

for fun: www.vanityferret.com

[Posted in FML 6062]