What's Wrong Here?

So we're manufacturing meat now?

Maybe that's part of the e. coli problem ...

October 5, 2007
Meat Company Going Out of Business After Recall
By KEN BELSON and KAREEM FAHIM

Topps Meat Company, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers, said today it was going out of business after it recalled more than 21.7 million pounds of ground beef products last month.

The company, based in Elizabeth, N.J., said a few of its 87 employees will remain at the plant to help the United States Department of Agriculture investigate how the E. coli bacteria tainted frozen hamburger patties made there.

Anthony D’Urso, the chief operating officer at Topps, said the company was unable to withstand the financial burden of the recall.

“This is tragic for all concerned,” Mr. D’Urso said in a statement. “In one week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large.”

A handful of workers trickled out of the company’s plant after being told that its doors would close. Vivian Quinones, who worked in the customer service department for two years, said employees were told this morning that Topps was going out of business.

“It was very emotional,” said Ms. Quinones, who has a 7-year old daughter. The news came “out of the blue. Everyone was somber.”

The company opened its doors in 1940 and was bought in 2003 by Strategic Investment and Holdings, an investment firm in Buffalo. Topps made branded frozen hamburgers and other meat products for supermarkets and mass merchandisers.