On Christmas Eve, National Steak and Poultry (NSP) of Owasso, Oklahoma announced a recall of approximately a quarter million pounds of beef due to potential E. coli 0157:H7 contamination. The meat, much of it steak, was sold to restaurants nationwide. The federal Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), linked the beef to a number of illnesses in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota, and Washington.

 

Wait a minute—there was a problem with steak?  By now, we're all used to hearing about how, to be safe, you should eat your burgers well done (160 F on a meat thermometer). Disease-causing organisms that may be on a side of beef can end up in the middle of a burger when the meat is ground. But if the bacteria are only on the outside of a cut of beef, it should be okay to sear a steak, and still safely eat it red and juicy in the middle, right?

 

Wrong. The reason is the quest for tenderness; a lot of steaks, especially steaks sold to restaurants, have been made more tender at the slaughterhouse by a lot of sharp points stuck into the meat. However the mechanical tenderizing process can also push bacteria toward the center of the beef cut, where they can potentially remain alive and infectious if the meat isn't cooked thoroughly. Some steaks sold at retail are also subject to this treatment. None are required to be labeled as such.

The FSIS, CDC, and NSP haven't yet publicly identified where the contaminated beef was distributed.

 

Our take: Consumers Union believes all such treated meat should be labeled so both restaurants and consumers know they should cook it thoroughly, like ground beef. And the government and the company responsible for distributing the contaminated meat should disclose the list of restaurants to which the meat was sold. In the meantime, if you're thinking of going out for a steak dinner soon, you might ask the restaurant if they buy their beef from NSP. If so, you may want to consider other choices on the menu.

-- Jean Halloran