Watch out! Beefburger warning

[Alexis]

It would help if I could tell you the serial numbers but I saw this on the telly in the hospital and had nothing to write with.

Leclerc frozen beefburgers in the South of France are causing a very serious illness, especially in children.

Don't be going on about McDo. ... ... This is really serious.

(Not that McDo isn't serious:doze

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

From today's SudOuest:

Statement from Leclerc:

"Hier, à la suite de la grave intoxication alimentaire, Leclerc attirait l'attention des consommateurs de quinze départements susceptibles d'avoir acheté dans ses magasins des steaks hachés surgelés de la marque Chantegrill portant les numéros de lots L231, L234, date limite au 22-08-2006, et L206, date limite du 25-07-2006. Les départements concernés sont les suivants : l'Ariège, l'Aude, l'Aveyron, le Cantal, la Haute-Garonne, le Gers, l'Hérault, les Landes, le Lot, le Lot-et-Garonne, les Pyrénées-Atlantiques, les Hautes-Pyrénées, les Pyrénées-Orientales, le Tarn et le Tarn-et-Garonne. Les consommateurs sont priés de ne pas consommer ces produits et de les rapporter au magasin dans les meilleurs délais.

« Pour l'instant, nous poursuivons notre enquête pour en connaître l'origine », déclarait hier le service de presse de Leclerc, mis en alerte depuis vendredi. La firme a procédé au retrait des marchandises en cause.

Les personnes qui auraient consommé le produit et présenteraient les symptômes de nausées, vomissements ou diarrhées, doivent consulter immédiatement un médecin."

[SaligoBay]

Yes, marque Chantegril.

According to MSN news http://www.msn.fr/news/?or=afprtrs&cat=une&id=051031094516.iyr4k02l.asp

little children are the most affected, dialysis and everything, "diarrhée sanglante" and all, not nice.

Steak haché rather than beefburgers, kind of makes you wonder.  Certainly not the first time bad meat is in the French news. 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

The symptoms suggest E.Coli poisoning, which in turn suggests faecal matter contamination of the meat. Pour hygine at abbatoirs and processing plants is the usual cause, where cost reduction and speed are the name of the game. This usually harmless bug (only a few strains are dangerous)has been poisoning fast food and ready meal customers around the world for years. This is the price of cheap meat.

Minced meat products such as burgers are particularly problematic as "poo" on the surface ends up in the middle - if the meat is not well cooked the bacteria can survive to poision someone. This is why McD and other chains carbonise their burgers before shoving them between the buns - serving them pink would be opening themselves up to all kinds of accusation should an incident (whether connected to them or not) occur.

For safety, steak haché / burgers are always better bought to order from the buchery counter, and best if you make them at home with clean hands and a closely inspected piece of beef.

[Val_2]

Another page spread today in Le Telegramme after yesterday's warnings. Makes you very careful what you buy these days regarding frozen products here.

[French Novice]

Our warning from the store in Marmande came this morning via a lettre recommende. I guess they used the store card information to send out letters. Unfortunately we had already eaten our over the weekend but luckily there were no ill effects. First and last time we buy frozen steak hache!!

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

Part of the problem with this situation must be the fact that the french eat their steak hache very rare, so there is no chance of any bugs being killed by the cooking process - I've read quite a few of the news articles, yet this doesn't appear to have been mentioned.

[SaligoBay]

It's true, I know people who cook frozen ones just enough so that they're not actually frozen any more, blood still running out and all.  I'm sure this is okay for high-quality fresh meat, but not for frozen steak hachés.     But you can't tell them that!   And the ubiquitous children's menu in almost every French restaurant yuck, often still red inside.

Interesting little article in today's paper about it.  The bad burgers all came from just one batch, made within a one-hour time period, it's bad but not a sign that the entire industry is dangerous.  Production is up north somewhere, I think.

BUT it did say that the company in question do actually test for E.Coli, even though this is not obligatory.  The non-obligatory bit shocked me!

 

[Mpprh]

Hi

just to say that McDo use a 100% natural process :

so no need to,worry there then ?

Peter

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote]It's true, I know people who cook frozen ones just enough so that they're not actually frozen any more, blood still running out and all. I'm sure this is okay for high-quality fresh meat, but not for...[/quote]

Testing can be something of a double edged sword. That might sound fatuous, but people come to rely upon it rather than having it as a backup. Frequently only a few batches are tested rather than every batch produced. Sampling itself is an art - is the sample a representative one? Finally, culturing of bacteria can take so long that the entire batch is sold and off the shelves before the results are known. Basic hygine has a lot going for it! Has E.Coli been confirmed? The blood in stools symptom is a good (?) indicator, but E.Coli is not the only pathogen to cause it by any means. Processed food really gives me the willies.