Tainted Beef Has Wisconsin Ties

Yeah, this is never good.

Frozen ground beef patties produced at a Butler, Wisconsin facility are being pulled off Sam's Club store shelves nationwide after four kids in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area became ill with e-coli-related illness.

The plant is owned by beef producer Cargill - spokesman Mark Klein says the company has been cooperating with state and federal health and agriculture officials.

Sam's Club is owned by Wal Mart. The frozen patties were sold under the name American Chef's Selection Angus Beef Patties.

The frozen patties have an expiration date of Feb. 12, 2008. Cargill asks consumers to either return any patties purchased after August 26 to the store, or throw them away.

Butler is in Waukesha County.

And since I've been told in the comments that I only post on Steve Kagen-related items, I guess I'm going to have to see if I can connect this to him some how.

Gosh, I hope this isn't too far a stretch.

A provision in the House version of the Farm Bill would allow state-inspected meat to cross state lines. Currently, only federally inspected beef can be sold out of state.

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer says the recall of 22-million pounds of tainted beef justifies maintaining federal inspection, “Can you imagine the timing of this when we are seeing almost every day more and more of these recalls?”

Wisconsin Democrat Steve Kagen proposed the amendment. He thinks the criticism is unwarranted, “I don’t think we’re doing away with any safeguards. As long as the meat packer or meat processor meets or exceeds Wisconsin standards and the federal standard, the consumer has nothing to worry about.”

Boxer says she is willing to stay on the floor indefinitely to stop the bill from passing in the Senate.

Yeah, maybe I am grasping at straws here.