Which is why you need vigorous testing to prevent / minimize the chances of such illnesses affecting the population. Not having access to safe food is an important part of the overall health of society.

“to have an outbreak is more than a couple of sick people in a couple of states…”

21 million pounds. More than 10,000 tons of meat needed to be recalled. This is not a common incident. This is not a minor problem blown out of proportion.

“As it is the federal government puts companies that had no bad intent out of business.”

Two points.

1.) They are out of business because they couldn’t afford the negative effects of such a massive recall. This had nothing to do with the federal government; it is the free market in action. This is what the Libertarians want, or at least this is what the Libertarians claim to want. It seems you would prefer companies were protected after hurting their customers. God forbid we have a little corporate responsibility. That could negatively affect profit margins.

2.) Who gives a damn if this was the result of negligence over bad intent?

“But people like YOU would gladly substitute for the government in doing so for a couple bucks.”

Can you translate this into English?

Uh, Jay? You do understand that those examples were idiotic on purpose? That’s because they parallel your claim that it’s not the meat that’s the problem, it’s the bacteria on the meat.

I can break it down for you a little more simply if you like.

Anyways, the simple fact is that food borne illnesses and what cause them are rather common… to have an outbreak is more than a couple of sick people in a couple of states…

As it is the federal government puts companies that had no bad intent out of business.

But people like YOU would gladly substitute for the government in doing so for a couple bucks.

Oh no… I ate a Topps burger that was on the raw side on labor day… Maybe more than one… I’m so worried, someone has to reimburse me for all my pain and suffering and low job perfomance due to not being able to sleep over those burgers I ate.

DIF loser.

Anyways, the simple fact is that food borne illnesses and what cause them are rather common… to have an outbreak is more than a couple of sick people in a couple of states…

As it is the federal government puts companies that had no bad intent out of business.

But people like YOU would gladly substitute for the government in doing so for a couple bucks.

Oh no… I ate a Topps burger that was on the raw side on labor day… Maybe more than one… I’m so worried, someone has to reimburse me for all my pain and suffering and low job perfomance due to not being able to sleep over those burgers I ate.

DIF loser.

And not to derail the thread or anything, but the designers of the towers actually took this into account. The towers were designed to withstand an impact from a 727, one of the bigger planes of the time. They did not, and could not have been expected to, design them to withstand a fully loaded plane going at 400 mph.

This is true. It’s commonly called shit.
Can someone tell me how you mix shit with 21 MILLION POUND of ground beef and not notice?

Guess what, fool: The designers ARE partly to blame. The Towers had a “revolutionary” design that eliminated most of the interior support columns, thus creating additional leaseable floor space. The floors were supported by exterior columns and the building core. This odd design, and the heat from burning jet fuel, hastened the Towers’ demise.

If the Towers had had traditional construction (interior columns), they may not have collapsed.

Bacteria grow, you fucking piece of shit. If the meat isn’t properly treated in the plant, then E. Coli counts will rise from safe to dangerous levels from the time it comes into the plant till the time it leaves.

God damn it man, just shut the fuck up. It is clear you don’t know what you are talking about.

Topps is responsible for whatever they sell. That means testing any meat they receive from their distributors to ensure they aren’t cranking out contaminated goods. For whatever reason, they gave insufficient attention to the issue of inspection and testing and left the door open to events like what we see now. That doesn’t mean they “knew” they were selling dangerous goods to consumers, just that they were probably negligent.

Types a guy from the safety of his mom’s basement …

And Camel doesn’t produce cigarettes, it just grinds the tobacco and wraps it in paper. No accountability necessary.

Is the builder to blame when somebody purposely starts a fire in the building?

That’s quite a tortured analogy, but that’s okay because conservatives support torture.

A builder IS to blame if he uses faulty materials without adequate inspecting them, and then the house collapses. Topps may have gotten shoddy raw materials, but they are tasked with the responsibility of making sure the contamination doesn’t get into their product and then passed onto to consumers.

Seriously, is there NO corporate irresponsibility that these right-wingers WON’T defend?

Despite the fact that the meat is tested at the abbatoir, Topps had a legal obligation to insure that the products they sold were not adulterated.

I will again refer you to the USDA regulations under the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

If you’re incapable of understanding this, you should take a long hard read of the FSIS website.

See http://www.fsis.usda.gov for more details.
If you’d like to first take a look at their regulations before talking about subject that you apparently know little about, see their regs page at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Regulations_&_Policies/index.asp.

Would it kill you to actually do some research before you talk nonsense?

However, the accusation here is that Topps acted recklessly or worse, was negligent and knew they were selling meat affected with e.coli bacteria.

CS in his infinite stupidity claim Topps should have been testing, but the fact of the matter is, such testing is performed before it reaches a company like Topps.

Quaker, give me a break with your idiotic examples.

Is the builder to blame when somebody purposely starts a fire in the building? Your logic dictates that the designers of the WTC are to blame for the towers collapsing, not the terrorists who crashed planes into them.

Now, I’ll await how Topps is to blame for the e.coli when the testing is done before they get the meat? Anyone?

Or is there going to be more asinine anecdotes?

That’s freakin’ brilliant.

Jay has come up with a simple concept that revolutionize tort defense.

“It wasn’t my unsafe building that caused the orphans to die, it was the blazing fire that went racing through it.”

“It wasn’t my drunkenness that caused the collision, it was Newton’s law!”

“It wasn’t my botched surgery that caused the patient to die, it was the defective lap sponge I left inside his lung that made it happen.”

Again, repeat that a hundred time in front of the mirror every day.

“You’re comparing taking thousands of individual parts and making an automobile to grinding meat and making them into patties.”

They are both products that the companies produce.

“Explain how that is done Mr. Expert.”

They take samples of the end product and test the levels of E. Coli. If you need me to explain how that’s done I can, but in short, it involved petri dishes.

“Major outbreak? 30 cases? Tens of thousands of people a year are affected with e.coli you stooge.”

More than 20 million pounds in meat had to be recalled. That’s 10,000 tons. That’s major.

“Fuck off yourself keyboard candyass ”

Like your such a fucking tough guy.

“Actually Dumb-As-A-Stump”

You are projecting again.

“we’re talking about preventative measures.”

No, we are talking about food safety standards. You are trying to defend corporations who sell unsafe products.

Oh, and congratulations in getting your ass kicked in yet another debate.

So let me see if I understand. The meat in the frozen patty is just fine. It’s the bacteria on the meat that’s the problem?

That is some olympic-class hair-splitting right there, Jay.