E. coli cases traced to Whole Foods beef

I should not laugh. I should not laugh. I should not laugh.

Yes you should. Yes you should. Yes you should.

Why would you laugh? People got sick

I blame the vegetarians.

ground beef is just not safe. it is all the bits and pieces, gathered up, not properly handled or cooled, then thrown into a grinder and chewed up and spit out; for our consumption. it is the worst part of the cow, all the scraps and fat that can't be sold as a higher cut of beef. if you want quality ground beef, you need to grind it yourself. buy high quality grass fed or organic beef, in the cuts you like, and custom grind your own beef with the amount of fat and muscle you want. its not hard to do. E coli is in the food supply, and is not going away; get used to it. you take a chance with every bite.

I marvel - If some are foolish enough to eat "meat" - why should they be "smart "enough to know how to cook it?

For health & heart - Go Vegan

Now why wouldn't you expect something Organic on the meat from an Organic Food Store? All kidding aside (The Elephant in the Room): what is meat from a mass packager doing at this "healthy eating" place. Did I miss that part of the article? Don't you love our journalists and their piercing inquisitiveness?

@anon
Make no mistake: E. coli poisoning is no joke. My heart goes out to those people and I hope they recover soon. But Whole Foods selling E. coli patties is HILARIOUS. Really, I'm sorry but I am going to blow out my diaphragm if I have to hold it in much longer.

Bloody diarrhea isn't funny. Unless you paid $15/lb for the privelige of acquiring it when you could have paid $1.99/lb at a normal supermarket?

It's funny because Whole Foods is supposed to be the hippie store that saves the world, not poisons them with their hippie beef.

Right after I finished the rare chzburger made from WF ground beef I bought on August 7th. Great.

You can't even go to Whole Foods for untainted meat anymore.

I wonder if any of this defective product managed to be included in the July 17 to August 12 deal on eight patties for $8.00.

The Whole Foods store on Westland Avenue in Boston has a history of overcharging (point of sale prices do not match date in the computer) over and over again, it seems they will give consumers the item for free (if you catch them) yet it seems to take several days to make the change on the computer which determines consumer charges at the cash register.

Whole Food shoppers should closely check their receipts for errors.

at least it was organic e-coli

I'm confused... why would this be funny?

eating beef is bad so don't eat it and you wont get ecoli...

Yes, why do you laugh? I don't eat any meat bought in stores..I eat venison and fish I caught.

I bought ground beef at The Prospect street store (Cambridge MA) and TWICE (in past two months) had to throw it away as it didn't smell "right". In fact- as I spend a large chunk of my available funds (my roommate calls it "Whole Paycheck")- at that store- I'd been intending to take up the matter with the manager- and then I read this. It's one thing to over-pay but quite another to get sick (and over-pay!). "Trust" (when it comes to products you put into your body) is the basis of all "branding". In addition to this issue, I have been overcharged (two recent examples: meat labeled incorrectly as a more expensive choice and barbecue sauce on sale- but charged the regular price at the register). Is it just that store that's run so badly?

It's called irony...

Why laugh? Because Whole Foods (and many of their patrons) have a smug and superior attitude about them, that their food is better and safer than the stuff the rest of us poor slobs can afford.

Delicious Beef!!!

Not slam on any group but lets get real... you're not talking Informed and well trained enployees making big money... but low paid uneducated poor or illegals from Mexico?
I can olny ask: Who do you think is handling our food? Get ready for more of the same because things are getting worse... not better.
We are lucky not be posioned to death each day.
NAFTA should help, or maybe more trade with China, or maybe the plan is to kill as many of us as possible so health care is not an issue. Criminals run America and it's as simple as that.

Can you receive a refund? I purchased at least $15-$20 worth...

If we had all just gotten Arugula from Whole foods, we'd be all set...

seems to me that the bad meat should be returned to the store for a refund.....not thrown out by the purchaser.

You can return any meat you bought from wholefoods (even if its not ground beef)and get a full refund.

cook to 160 degrees - no problem with E Coli. What's the prob Bob?

We ate plenty of hamburger from Whole Foods over the last couple months with no problem. If the meat is cooked fully through, it kills the bacteria. Especially if your kids are eating the meat, no pink should be visible anywhere inside the cooked meat.

I can't believe a looker ike Kmacjp would troll, White Coat Notes. Wow, talk about a guy with no life. I feel for you, man. Try going out and socializing with real people - to possibly make real friends - as opposed to inanimate objects such as your computer. And, who knows what you try to do with it late at night when you're really lonely.

People are going on and on about beef, but the major problem is that it is not just beef. It is tomatoes and lettuce and spinach. What's next? We need to get off the down on "hippie" organics, "beef is bad for you" and get together on what is going wrong with our food supply as a nation. This is unacceptable any way you look at it. Also, should we compensate farmers because of their unsafe farming practices, or unsafe irrigation, or unsafe packing? A represntative in congress is trying to introduce legislation (and I forget his name) so farmers are compensated for the recalls. PLEASE. So, now the American people get to pay for poisoned food. Something is very rotten.

Just hoping you don't buy ground beef there!

I thought Whole Foods was supposed to be so healthy. Guess it doesn't matter whether it's organic or not--or raised in an allegedly sustainable manner or not! I hope that no one else gets sick!

What is safe to eat?Meat,chicken,pork,tomatoes,chile?Nothing if we do not
cook it long enough!Water? I rather drink wine!

Wow. It looks like beef isn't safe from anywhere! Each cow requires tons of precious water; each cow produces tons of methane gas (I believe cows are the largest producer of methane gas in California??); factory farmed beef is cruel and full of feces; now the only place I thought was safe - Whole Foods - their beef has e.coli? Vegans are looking smarter than ever!

No please don't laugh, because my aunt and I were two of the unreported cases. We wondered where we got it, now we know. I thought I would die.

Whole Foods mastered the art of seeming very different in their sourcing when in fact the vast majority of their items are no different that what you buy in any store. I know organic growers who call them "Whore Foods" because of this. But this event will not hurt them as much as their "Whole Paycheck" reputation at a time when family budgets are strained

Why would you laugh? People got sick

I am not a communist, but isn't this because capitalism is more focused on those trying to make money more than the consumer. Sure we have laws, laws circumvented easily because of the lax oversight. Why lax oversight? Is capitalism based on the honor system?

Is I going to die? ....

Ham bones are safe, just boil them for 2 hours before making pea soup. WF people were friendly and helpful. My first and last time shopping there. Over my budget!

And the authorities may want to check the Whole Food ground beef misleading claims of fat content. I purchased 90% lean (claimed) and it shrank 30% giving off rivers of fat... Arrgghhhh

Not funny, my daughter went into kidney failure 8 years ago from ecoli. Very serious illness. Shes ok but no more ground beef, unpasteurized apple cider, public pools....

No, it IS just beef that's the problem. Most, if not all of the E. coli cases regarding vegetables, was the result of runoff from.. guess what... cattle farms! And yes, beef IS bad for you.. it's been directly linked to colon cancer, not to mention heart disease.

My son was one of the those hospitalized. He was horribly sick for over a week. At the worst of it he could neither eat or drink ,could barely walk and was suffering with pain.If you think human suffering is funny then you have a perverted sense of humor.

No you wouldn't be laughing. I was one of the unreported cases. I just reported it to Mass DPH.

Yes, why do you laugh? I don't eat any meat bought in stores..I eat venison and fish I caught.

eating beef is bad so don't eat it and you wont get ecoli...

Why laugh? Because Whole Foods (and many of their patrons) have a smug and superior attitude about them, that their food is better and safer than the stuff the rest of us poor slobs can afford.

Well ... paying upwards of $10-$25 per pound of E coli infested beef?

You should not laugh, you should CRY!!!

Que tal?

Delicious Beef!!!

wow, people with such idiotic remarks.

does anyone else find it amusing that they just had a big sale on hamburger patties? And they wonder why they were selling them after the recall...

Paying arms and legs for E coli infested beef at Whole Foods, you should not laugh ... you should CRY!!!

seems to me that the bad meat should be returned to the store for a refund.....not thrown out by the purchaser.

cook it to 160 degrees and you're all set. what's the prob Bob?

I can't believe a looker ike Kmacjp would troll, White Coat Notes. Wow, talk about a guy with no life. I feel for you, man. Try going out and socializing with real people - to possibly make real friends - as opposed to inanimate objects such as your computer. And, who knows what you try to do with it late at night when you're really lonely.

can you get a refund after you have eaten the meat>>>>>>>

It's a Eminence Front....I actually can feel smug being a blue collar, ex-Nantucket FF/EMT watching folks paying twice what anythings worth at the Bedford Ma WF store. Let them frown on the rest of us going to Stop and Shop. You reap what you sow.....BTW My Harley gets 50 MPG what does your Hummer get?

The contamination occured at the processing plant of Nebraska beef, not inside the whole foods stores.

To the veggie above, most of the recalls of recent months/years of e coli contamination have been from spinach and other vegetables.

I buy nearly all of my meat from Whole Foods and will continue to do so.

People are going on and on about beef, but the major problem is that it is not just beef. It is tomatoes and lettuce and spinach. What's next? We need to get off the down on "hippie" organics, "beef is bad for you" and get together on what is going wrong with our food supply as a nation. This is unacceptable any way you look at it. Also, should we compensate farmers because of their unsafe farming practices, or unsafe irrigation, or unsafe packing? A represntative in congress is trying to introduce legislation (and I forget his name) so farmers are compensated for the recalls. PLEASE. So, now the American people get to pay for poisoned food. Something is very rotten.

my boyfriend is a meat cutter at whole foods. they grind all their own beef fresh, so i don't really understand how this is possible?

I bought VERY expensive steak tips at Whole Foods and opened them up and almost threw up at the smell. This was from the Hingham store.................it seems more and more people I know have had similar problems there.....................I did bring them back, they refunded me, and gave me a $25 gift certificate, but I was really grossed out.
I'ts not just beef, but the whole corrupt food industry, just like every other government department, taking payoffs to overlook things..............food, fire safety, road safety, etc.
Scary.

Irradiate everything. Drink organic bourbon. Cook your delicious flesh foods in a scrumptious stew and kill the bugs on the meet and the veggies at the same time. Don't trust any food store, no matter how tony and smug they may be.

You have to love people who accuse others of being smug and superior, while they are acting self righteous themselves. Those of you who think it's funny that others got sick and could have died are truly something less than human. Message to vegetarians/vegans: If you cook beef tainted by e-coli thoroughly you won't get sick. If you eat raw spinach, tomato's, or peppers tainted with salmonella or e-coli you WILL get sick. So how exactly does this make being vegetarian healthy for you? Eating raw foods makes your more susceptible to food borne illness not less. Cook your veggies. And vegetarians get cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses too. Forcing your salad on meat eaters makes about as much sense as meat eaters forcing a burger down your throat. Either can make you sick if it’s not handled, packaged, or refrigerated properly. So move on. Message for those of you who think "regular" food is better for you: If it is why have there been so many cases of tainted Conventional food; and this first I can remember involving Natural or Organic food? It has nothing to do with quality. You can get sick at Taco Bell or the Capital Grille if the beef wasn’t handled or prepared properly. All it takes is one employee who doesn’t wash their hands thoroughly. If you prefer food that contains chemicals, pesticides, irradiation/GMO, antibiotics, steroids, human growth hormone, and other artificial ingredients that’s up to you. But don’t try to imply that it’s healthier because of a batch of burgers was tainted. Natural food is just that, food grown and raised the way it used to be before food became industrialized and big business. And it has nothing to do with politics. If you knew anything about WF’s you would know they are a big publicly traded corporation from Texas that’s the largest natural food store chain in America. They are nothing like Bread and Circus who they bought. They are the Wal-Mart of Organic Food. They even import some 365 Organic Veggies, Spices, Nuts, Peanut Butter from China. And they aren’t exactly friendly to workers trying to organize for higher wages. So don’t paint them or all their clients as tree huggers. If you shop there you would see everyone from people using EBT cards to hippies to college students to brahmins to republicans. So seriously get a clue, before you post incorrect info.

And that's only the stuff infested with E-coli,How about the beef the Koreans don't want to touch,you know, the "MAD COW"beef being served to your children in school?

The problem isn't just that these huge slaughterhouses allow the meat to be mixed with E. coli-laden fecal matter. The problem is with feeding the cows corn instead of the grasses that they have evolved to digest. When cows eat corn instead of grass, the chemistry of their digestive systems change, leading to a pH more conducive to diseases such as E.coli that spread to humans. And because of the pH change, the cows suffer from painful stomach ulcers that would eventually kill them, if they weren't slaughtered first.

The first part of the solution is to only purchase pasture-fed beef. Of course, this type of beef requires more land than that raised in confined feeding lots, and is therefore more expensive. The real solution is to acknowledge that there are too many people for us all to be able to eat huge quantities of beef. Maybe 1/2 pound 1-2 times a week week would be a good compromise for us carnivores. Then it wouldn't hurt so much to pay to have the cows pastured.

If you want to know how this happened, read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. "Animal, Vegetable and Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver talks a bit about this, too.

This wouldn't be a problem if people cooked whole beef to 155 degrees, and ground beef to 165 degrees. If you do not follow these guidelines you are putting yourself at risk. The only safe way to deal with food is to take every possible precaution.

HAHAHa joe mama. Seems like someone has an irrational hate of vegetarians and wfm. concerning getting your facts right.... There are some foods which are much more prone to containing bacteria. I suggest servsafe.com for you. Then you can take a class and be the expert you claim to be.

This wouldn't be a problem if people cooked whole beef to 155 degrees, and ground beef to 165 degrees. If you do not follow these guidelines you are putting yourself at risk. The only safe way to deal with food is to take every possible precaution.

HAHAHa joe mama. Seems like someone has an irrational hate of vegetarians and wfm. concerning getting your facts right.... There are some foods which are much more prone to containing bacteria. I suggest servsafe.com for you. Then you can take a class and be the expert you claim to be.

All this joking about eating meat is, well, silly. There's enough in life on which to judge each other without some deciding what the rest of us should eat. So enough please. And besides, I used to work with a woman who got really sick from e-coli from eating a smoothie made from organic berries. It's obvious how this happens.

Cook your food properly and you won't need to worry.
There are many steps to insuring your food is safe to eat. Producers take precautions, retailers take precautions, restaraunts take precautions...you should too.
You've also got yourself to blame .

It doesn't matter where you get your food. There really isn't any use in getting on hippy food - it's not hippy necessarily food. Not all of us buy cheap boxed food by the palette. Veganism isn't even safe. If you aren't buying from the farmer, you are taking a chance.

There are some serious problems in the current system of food distribution in the US. I'm not a regionalist, but if you have more than 2 distribution companies in your line-up, things can go wrong. The whole distribution system was determined by McDonald's and Wal-Mart. Unfortunately we have managed to become too stressed out to demand appropriate change. It's the downfall of allowing ourselves to become a plutocracy.

I would expect a store like Whole Foods, which claims to have premium meat, to grind their own burger from just a few animals instead of stocking factory beef where the burger meat can come from many, many animals. It only takes one contaminated animal to contaminate the meat factory's entire output.

Never, never buy ground beef from a store. Get a Kitchen Aid with a grinder attachment, buy a good boneless chuck roast (one with no water added, so that leaves out Walmart), and grind your own.

It's fresher, better, and safer. You won't be sorry.

Maybe this will finally shut up all of those people who insist that groceries from Whole Foods *must* be superior to groceries from any other supermarket. If I get sick from Market Basket groceries, at least I can still pay my rent.

Yawn, jpliskerton. I never claimed to be an expert. Evidently taking a course has made you one. That's why you told people to do the same thing that others have said, cook your meat thoroughly. Maybe you should teach your expertise to the people at Coleman's. That way their meat won't be tainted. I don't hate vegetarians. I was one at one point so get your facts straight. I still eat veggies too. I was merely pointing out that they should take "precautions" so they don't get sick too. I just don't appreciate smug vegetarians who use the occasion of a food borne illness to proselytize. How does eating living plants, instead of living animals; make you better than everyone else? It doesn't. I don't hate WF, I shop there. As I did Bread and Circus. So you’re wrong again. And Lizzard is right about the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma", WF and others corporations have industrialized natural food to increase their profit at your expense. They are "Animal Farm" gone wild. They sell "buying local" and "going green" while continue to lower their standards and play "duck and cover" when it hits the fan. Importing food from China isn't locally grown. And continuing to sell meat that may be tainted and not informing customers that there was a recall is just not good business practices. So spin it however you want. Cows are herbivores that naturally eat grass. "Mad Cow" disease was spread by feeding live cattle ground up dead and infected cattle. Cows don't eat meat and they certainly don't eat their own dead. Forcing them to do so isn't a good business practice. Neither is feeding them GMO corn to save money. The food supply was healthier when animals were raised and fruit and veggies grown on local farms. What people don’t seem to understand is natural farming is the way it was done for centuries. It’s only in the last 50-60 years that factory farming and conventional farming has co-opted and perverted the food industry with its chemicals, pesticides, steroids, human growth hormone, antibiotics, etc.

How come most people who write on these things are hateful and/or not very bright? These things ought to be for intelligent discussion of events and issues and not where lowest-common-denominator people can hide behind anonymity and say things they are too cowardly to say in person. Every time I look at one, I am amazed at the level of cruelty and ignorance of most of the writers and also no longer have high expectations of most people. These commentaries reveal a person’s character or lack thereof.

That said, I am on a fixed income (retired), and I will continue to shop at WF. I don't eat any meat unless it is cooked well-done, at least "medium well" or barely pink. I own a meat thermometer and I use it. When I find the same brands of "organic" or minimally processed foods at my neighborhood market (which is not a big chain but actually is locally owned), I buy them there for a few pennies less. I buy my seafood and a local fish market of longstanding excellent reputation. I buy the 365 brand dry pet food for $1.99 at WF ever since the tragic pet food deaths. I wash thoroughly all of my green and veggies ("tripled washed" and all).
I don't depend on any commercial enterprise, even WF which I trust more than most, to excuse me from making informed choices (anymore than I depended on the education system to educate my child or the medical system to ensure my best possible health).

Did you people stop taking Tylonol after the (deliberate) poisonings? Are you still paying +/-$4.00 a gallon for your SUV even though ExxonMobil had the highest profits last quarter in the history of the earth?

In other words if more people did their homework/research and made informed decisions rather than use their energy laughing at other's misfortunes and doing the self-righteous "I'm smarter than you" (no, you are not) routine, everyone might be a lot safer, not to mention enjoy a happier life and more fulfilled life.

Hey bosespkr. Wasn't one of the worst and most illusive causes of E. coli just traced to tomatoes or peppers or some other vegetable? You vegetarian and vegans are not safer than us carnivores when it comes to illness. You eef!

Back to regional. That's how Bread and Circus got started.
Soybeans are one of the most tainted pesticide crops grown yet there are meat alternative products from companies like Yves, that are probably using soybean by-products from other processes for fake baloney and hotdogs. They may not have E.coli but enough poisons to do slow damage. Whole Foods does not advocate with the companies whose products they carry for disclosure to meet a standard that they set. I called Yves, formerly Hain, and guess what? They told me that the source of their soybeans was proprietary! So, go regional and smaller. Be able to really talk to your food provider!

I shop at Whole Foods in Hingham every weekend. I have NEVER had any problems with any of their products.

I was really really sick tuesday after eating beef from the WF prepared food department , which I had bought few days before, stored in my freezer and heated up for lunch monday. It was either that or a cup of soup and salad from the salad bar I got for supper monday at WF-Fresh Pond.

Three weeks ago, I got a case of food poisoning from the prepared Sushi I purchased at the Washington Street store in Brighton (right on the Brookline line). All the unpleasant stomach issues and hives.

I didn't think anything further about it (after that very unpleasant day ended) until this story.

I posted here earlier... yes my aunt and I are two unreported cases. I've contacted DPH about this. Lab results to prove it. Anyway, I notified DPH that neither of us ate any ground beef -- or any beef at all from WF as far as we can remember. We ate off the SALAD BAR and some prepped vegetables from the deli. Along with a rotisserie chicken and some chips and salsa (no it wasn't the salsa -- that's salmonella and we had e. coli/shiga). I know people are like "I cook my meat" and "I'm a vegan," "I wash my produce," etc. But if you're going to get this, you're going to get it. There was no way we could have ever known or avoided it. Americans like to believe you can prevent everything, but sh*t happens. Literally! No I shouldn't joke, it was bad.