Contamination Leads to Company Demise - Oct 7, 2007

A 67 year-old company that manufactured hamburgers for its own brand and some of the largest private label brands on the market has been forced to recall so much meat that it is going out of business.

Topps Meat Company LLC announced that because of the economic impact of the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history involving more than 21.7 million pounds of ground beef products, it is forced to close its Elizabeth plant and go out of business immediately. The company has been in business since 1940.

The tons of frozen ground beef products were recalled because they may be contaminated with E. coli.

"This is tragic for all concerned," said Anthony D’Urso, Topps chief operating officer. "In one week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large. We sincerely regret the impact this will have on our employees, our customers and suppliers, and the community.”

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Training Tip

A sad example of how contamination can harm customers, destroy a company, throw people out of work, and impact a community. Use this example in your GMP training to emphasize the need to keep things clean.

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