Company at center of large tainted beef recall closes doors
Topps Meat was forced to recall 21.7 million pounds of ground beef — the second largest recall in U.S. history — after its products sickened about forty people in eight states; company now files for bankruptcy
Elizabeth, New Jersey-based Topps Meat filed for bankruptcy protection two months after announcing the second-biggest beef recall in U.S. history. The company did not provide financial details in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, New Jersey. It listed assets and debt of between $1 million and $100 million and said it had as many as 10,000 creditors. “Because of the severe economic impact of the recall, the debtor was forced to cease manufacturing operations at its Elizabeth, New Jersey plant and lay off the majority of its employees, effectively terminating its manufacturing operations,” the company said in its filing. The recalled products, more than 21.7 million pounds of ground beef, sickened about forty people in eight states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In response to the September recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began an investigation into the company’s safety practices, Topps said in the bankruptcy filing. Closely held Topps Meat was founded in 1940. In 1997, Hudson Foods recalled twenty-five million pounds of ground beef produced at its processing plant in Columbus, Nebraska, the largest such recall ever. A wholly owned and separately managed subsidiary, J&B Meats of Moline, Illinois, was not affected by the Topps closure.
On 8 November the USDA said it would double its inspections of meat and poultry products imported from Canada. The agency cited the practices of Balzac, Alberta, Canada-based Ranchers Beef, the company that was identified as a likely source of E. coli-tainted beef supplied to Topps.
