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Officials Defend Waiting 18 Days To Recall Beef

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By HOPE YEN and JEFFREY GOLD, The Associated Press

Published: October 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department on Thursday defended its decision to wait 18 days before seeking the recall of millions of pounds of ground beef after initial tests showed E. coli contamination, saying it was following standard policy to rule out other factors.

Department officials acknowledged that they knew as early as Sept. 7 that frozen hamburger patties could be contaminated after a federal inspector confirmed that preliminary tests indicated the E. coli bacteria strain O157:H7.

The department said it was following its common practice of confirming the original results. However, because of the delay in this case, agriculture officials will now re-examine the policies to determine whether quicker notice is necessary.

'We are concerned about that delay and we recognize that we can do better,' spokeswoman Terri Teuber said. 'One of the things we're looking at for future recalls is to determine whether the science is strong enough in some cases that we should authoritatively move forward sooner.'

The department's response comes after The Associated Press obtained an Agriculture Department e-mail showing the department knew on Sept. 7 about possible contamination but waited 18 days before concluding Topps Meat Co. should issue a recall.

The recall that began Sept. 25 was soon expanded to comprise 21.7 million pounds of hamburger produced by Elizabeth, N.J.-based Topps, making it the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history.

A Florida teen was hospitalized with kidney failure in August, and the meat her family bought was tested by the USDA.

The e-mail - from federal inspector Kis Robertson, an employee of the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service - was provided by the teen's family attorney, Scott P. Schlesinger, on Thursday.

'They should have recalled immediately. That's not even a maybe,' Schlesinger said.

Asked about the delay, Topps spokeswoman Michele Williams referred questions to the USDA.

'We've been fully cooperating with their investigation, and certainly taking their recommendations,' she said.
Teuber said the Sept. 7 preliminary results yielded 13 negative samples of the questionable ground beef and just one positive result.

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