Beef, pet food, spinach: Recalling recent food scares

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1102391

Prior to the tomato-linked salmonella outbreak, food-related illness and recalls that have affected Bay Staters in recent years include:

Beef shipped across the country, including to 112 Massachusetts schools, was recalled in February after the U.S. Department of Agriculture learned employees of Hallmark/Westland Meat in California were videotaped using a fork lift and electronic prod to force sick cattle into the slaughterhouse. The recall of 143 million pounds of beef was the largest in U.S. history. No illnesses were reported.

In December, the state Department of Public Health identified milk containing listeria from Whittier Farms in West Sutton as responsible for three deaths. Two elderly men and an unborn child were killed by the bacteria, while a third man and the child’s mother were made ill. The dairy farm halted production.

In March 2007, tainted pet food forced massive recalls of chow sold under more than 80 brand names. At least 16 cats and dogs nationwide died.

Hundreds of people, including at least five in Massachusetts, fell violently ill after eating salmonella-tainted peanut butter that was pulled from supermarkets in February 2007.

Spinach was pulled from grocery store shelves and restaurant menus after an outbreak of E. coli was linked to bags of the leafy greens in September 2006. An elderly woman died and nearly 100 people were sickened.