GLICKMAN ANNOUNCES HUDSON TO ACT ON USDA RECOMMENDATION

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today announced that the Hudson Foods Company of Rogers, Arkansas will close its Columbus, Nebraska plant, recall all product and dispose of any product in inventory on the recommendation of USDA. USDA investigators have found evidence of possible hazards to public health from the E.coli 0157:H7 bacterium in other products and the company is unable to satisfy USDA based upon their records. USDA is alerting consumers to look for all Hudson Foods brand frozen preformed beef patties with Establishment Number 13569 printed inside the USDA inspection seal. The products should be returned to the place of purchase. Products were distributed to grocery stores and wholesale stores. Hudson Foods is also notifying all of its customers to immediately stop using its products from that plant. These customers include Safeway, WalMart, Burger King, Sam's Club, and Boston Market. "Since the beginning of the Hudson outbreak, public safety has been our number one concern," said Glickman. "I believe the action we are taking today while tough, is the only option based on the new information our investigators have uncovered." A team of USDA investigators today determined that beef burgers produced on June 6 included product left over from the June 5 production, in which FSIS laboratory test have identified positive E.coli 0157:H7. "USDA is including this information to get the word out to consumers who will want to check to make sure that suspect product has been removed from restaurants where they take their families," said Thomas J. Billy, administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Glickman ordered the team of USDA investigators to the Hudson plant in Columbus, Nebraska after the Food Safety and Inspection Service determined that an August 12 recall of 20,000 pounds of frozen beef burgers should be expanded to 1.2 million pounds on August 15. Colorado public health officials initially identified an E.Coli O157:H7 infection to USDA in late July and sent a Hudson beef patty from the patient's freezer to a USDA laboratory where it tested positive for the E.coli 0157:H7 bacterium that can cause serious and sometimes fatal kidney failure. Colorado on August 12 confirmed that five of 16 cases of foodborne illness were linked to the Hudson frozen beef patties, causing USDA to call for the initial voluntary recall by Hudson. USDA has alerted consumers to check labels in their freezers for Hudson Foods Company frozen beef patties and burgers and return those products to the grocery stores or wholesale clubs where they were purchased. Distribution is considered to be nationwide since consumers often take the popular frozen burgers across state lines to summer homes or the patties may be purchased at wholesale clubs for resale in smaller retail stores. Officials from the Food Safety and Inspection Service are starting today to check with Hudson clients to be sure inventory that was produced on June 6 is returned to a Hudson warehouse in Van Buren, Ark. FSIS will collect samples from returned product to determine the extent of the possible contamination and will supervise destruction of the product, as requested by Hudson. Hudson has not notified FSIS how they intend to destroy the product, which could be burned or rendered. FSIS maintains a liaison with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to determine whether reports of foodborne illness are linked to the recall. CDC has no deaths reported that have been linked to this recall and is continuing to investigate to determine whether reported E. coli 0157:H7 infections are related. E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacteria that can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and dehydration. The very young, the elderly, and persons with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness. Persons with any of these symptoms should immediately contact their doctor or hospital. "Because of the potential hazard of foodborne disease from consumption of undercooked hamburgers contaminated with pathogens such as the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria, we continue to urge consumers who may have purchased the suspect product to return it to the place of purchase," said Billy. "USDA advised the company to recall all of its product because USDA's lack of confidence in the records provided to investigators, and we want to err on the side of public health and safety," said Glickman. For questions about the recall, phone the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-800-535-4555. The Hudson Foods Company consumer hotline number is 1-800-447-2670. # Editor's Note: Media inquiries to the Hudson Foods Company should be directed to John White at 501-636-1100. USDA news releases and media advisories are available on the Internet. Access the USDA Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.usda.gov