Hannaford Recalls Frozen Beef

[Henry]

Hannaford Supermarkets is warning its customers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont to check their freezers for recalled beef.

Spokesman Mike Norton says the supermarket chain learned on Sunday that its stores may have received beef that's subject to a voluntary recall by Colorado-based JBS Swift Beef Co.

He says customers should check their freezers for any ground beef or beef products with sell-by dates ranging from April 28 through June 6. Hannaford will provide a refund or replacement of any beef or ground beef product purchased at our stores.

JBS Swift announced Sunday it's voluntarily expanding its beef recall to include about 380,000 pounds of products because of possible E. coli contamination.

[Henry]

We don't use our freezer much anymore, but I did freeze a little hamburg that I had left that I didn't use for a meatloaf.  I am sure that what I froze is fine as we had already eaten three quarters of it. 

I did call Hannafords in St. Albans to ask them about what could be done if you had taken the hamburg out of the original package, made patties and re wrapped it and froze it and had no idea what the dates were on it originally.  The guy, whose name was Steve was very good and said, "I am going to have to talk to my manager, is it OK if I put you on hold?"

He came back a few minutes later and said, "I have got to have you talk to the store manager and will have to put you on hold again."

When he came back again, he asked me if I knew the fat content and I told him 85%.  He then told me, just bring it in, we will weigh it up and take care of it for you.

I am not sure that I will, since we have already eaten some of it before we froze it and are still alive, but I truly was impressed in how they were handling the recall.  Steve told me that he got his first call from someone last Friday and he was dumbfounded as he had not been told of the recall yet.

Since there have been no reports of illness in Vermont and not a high percentage of the meat purchased is usually frozen, I think they are really being very cautious to make sure everything they sell is OK.

[Judi]

I am confused. Am I correct that the fresh hamburg is ok and it is just the frozen patties that are being recalled?

[fletchtb]

I think the issue is that the recalled beef was originally sold fresh (not frozen) and would have been eaten by now if it had not been frozen. So the only possiblity of there being tainted meat is if it was still in someone's freezer waiting to be eaten

[Judi]

Thanks for the information. I usually buy it in bulk and put in 1lb zip lock bags and freeze it but I have eaten some before the recall so I am pretty sure we are safe. I always cook my meat on high temps until the juice is gone and the meat is dark brown and we haven't had hamburg patties that could be undercooked.