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A little over a year ago the largest recall of beef in US history led to speculation that Americans might curb their beef consumption over fear of |E. coli| -- so far, that simply hasn't happened.
Hudson Foods Co. recalled 25 million pounds of beef produced at its Columbus, Ohio, plant based on fears that the meat may have been contaminated with potentially deadly E. coli. Although prices in the cattle futures and similar markets declined in the days immediately after the recall, Americans average yearly consumption of beef has remained steady at about 64 pounds.
Part of the explanation for the continued popularity of beef has been the industry's quick initiatives to combat E. coli contamination. Ranchers, meat packers and others in the beef industry quickly formed the Beef Industry Food Safety Council in the wake of the Hudson Foods recall to promote education and research into preparing beef safely. Most plants also stopped the reprocessing of meat left over from the previous day -- no one in the industry wants to have to recall several days worth of production as Hudson did because of its reprocessing procedures.
Hudson Foods sold the Columbus plant, but it is still not completely off the hook. The U.S. Attorney's office in Oregon is investigating whether the managers at the Hudson plant tried to cover up the extent of the E. coli contamination.