Sacramento Bee, "Debate grows in beef recalls; Critics dispute claim that string of alerts shows system works"

          A "creeping recall" of ground beef and a spate of other recalls have alarmed food safety advocates who fear a breakdown in the food monitoring system, but health regulators say the alerts signal the system is working. Over the weekend, after Arizona health officials found E. coli in a ground beef sample there, a Los Angeles area food processor vastly expanded its recall to 5.7 million pounds of more than 100 fresh and frozen meat products. While this recall is by far the largest in recent months, it is not the only such announcement. From Arizona to Wisconsin, Alabama to Washington and here in California, more than 6 million pounds of ground beef and related beef products have been recalled from stores and distribution sites in 25 states since April.
          "This is like déjà vu for me, this creeping recall," said William Marler, an attorney who's won massive settlements in E. coli-related cases. "What worries me about the recalls is that it's back to where it used to be -- after people got sick. It's the canary in the coal mine, like in the 1990s." The state's public health community sees things differently. They say the recalls are a sign that increased monitoring and testing by state and federal agencies and within the industry are working.
          "We're coming out with more and more recalls partially because of awareness," said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services at the California Department of Health Services. "Because of improvements in testing, we're able to link illnesses from a wide area. We're much better at discovering these things." State agencies can more quickly match strains of dangerous bacteria like E. coli O157:H7 with strains discovered in other states, he said, and companies are more conscious of food safety and are more willing to pull the trigger on a recall.