Adams Farm Meat Recall

Many of you will have read or heard that Adams Farm had a voluntary recall of meat because some product from a farm that was processed at Adams Farm on November 11 tested positive for E.coli. We wanted to let you know about the timeline of events and the steps Adams farm has taken to exceed USDA food safety recommendations and ensure customer confidence and full transparency. 

Friday January 8 2010

• We were informed by the State Department of Public Health and the USDA that some meat had tested positive for E.coli.
• We immediately implemented our USDA approved product recall plan.
• The State took samples of ground meat and other cuts of meat from Adams Farm to be tested.
• We informed the three farms that had their meat processed on November 11th 2009 that they had to stop using or distributing that meat and had to inform everyone who held the meat not to use or distribute it.

Saturday January 9 2010

All the recalled meat was under our control and everyone had been informed not to use or distribute the meat.

Monday January 11 2010

• Samples of the recalled meat from Sweetwater Farm and Side Hill Farm sent to be tested for E.coli.
• At 4:00 pm we were informed by the Washington DC based USDA Recall committee that they would be issuing a Class 1 recall, even though we argued with them that the entire product had been recalled.
• During Monday evening we worked with USDA on their media release in an attempt to protect the names of the involved farms until their product had been tested.
• 9:00 pm the USDA media release went out at. 

We responded to all media questions for the next few days while waiting for further information from the USDA and the testing labs. 

Thursday January 14 2010

We were informed that:

1. Sweetwater Farm recalled meat had tested negative for E.coli
2. Side Hill Farm recalled meat had tested negative for E.coli
3. Adams Farm meat tested by the State had tested negative for  E.coli

As an indication of the efficiency and effectiveness of Adams Farm’s USDA approved HACCP plan, Sweetwater and Side Hill Farm animals were processed at either end of the day and the contaminated meat in the middle of the day; the fact that Sweetwater and Side Hill meat were not affected proved that the Adams Farm HACCP plan worked and there was no cross contamination. 
 
Friday January 15, 2010

The USDA approved the Adams Farm re-assessment plan that added an extra control point in the HACCP plan and that introduced more product testing. This re-assessment was undertaken voluntarily by Adams Farm to ensure the highest possible level of Food Safety and accountability. 

Since Monday, January 18th, Adams Farm has been back in full production. Some of our custom farms may experience some slight delays because we have had to cut back on production during the time we were working with the State and USDA to meet all the mandated procedures associated with a recall.  

We thank all of our customers for their understanding, words of support and ongoing patronage.