It's a new new year, but the same problems persist.

Rochester Meat Company has recalled over 180,000 pounds of beef that was distributed over the past couple of months. A teenage girl in California got sick from e. coli back in December and four other people in Wisconsin may have gotten sick from the meat as well.

The beef was distributed to restaurants and other food service outlets, and officials are still trying to contact all of the places that received the meat to tell them of the recall, which was announced on January 12. Attorneys want the names of the establishments that received the beef to be named along with the Rochester Meat Company.

Another beef recall to tell you about. This one is from American Foods Group.

The company has recalled 96,000 pounds of beef chuck, chop beef, and sirloin. Two people have gotten sick from possible E.coli, so the company has recalled beef distributed to stores in Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Here's a full list of the products recalled and what consumers should do.

Cargill isn't having a good fall. A month after recalling 840,000 pounds of beef because of E. coli contamination, the company is again recalling beef. This time it's one million pounds of beef distributed to Stop & Shop, Giant, Weis, and Wegman supermarkets. The states involved include Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia.

Here is the info for this particular recall. If you have any questions, consumers are urged to call Cargill at 877-455-1034.

Pot pies and spinach are one thing, but this is pizza we're talking about!

General Mills is recalling 5 million boxes of its Tostino's and Jeno's frozen pepperoni pizzas because of possible E. coli. The pepperoni actually came from a third party. The recall is for pepperoni pizzas produced since July. So far, 21 cases of illness have been reported. Four of the customers actually have some sort of kidney failure (!), but no E. coli has been officially found at the General Mills plant.

Here is the info on the recall.

You didn't think this week was going to go by without a food recall notice, did you?

Topps Meat Company is recalling over 331,000 pounds of frozen hamburger because of E. coli concerns. Six people have gotten sick from the contamination, and three of them had to be hospitalized.

The patties were distributed under several different names and several different box sizes and dates. Here's a complete list of the recalled items from the USDA.

Only a few days after we were told that it was once again safe to eat spinach, the FDA issued a recall on lettuce from the Salinas-based Nunes Co. The recall only applies to lettuce purchased from October 3-6 in seven western states: Oregon, Idaho, Montana,California, Nevada, Washington and Arizona, and "the recalled lettuce was packaged as "Green Leaf 24 Count, waxed carton," and "Green Leaf 18 Count, cellophane sleeve, returnable carton." Packaging is stamped with lot code 6SL0024."

The reason that the lettuce was recalled was due to a concern over a possibly E.coli contamination in the water supply to the fields, although no E.coli has been found in any of the lettuce and no people have reported illness. The owner of the family-run company says that they have strict safety protocols, which were strengthened when the "spinach scare" broke out.

At this point, all lettuce covered by the recall should be off shelves, but it could be a good idea to check the bags in your fridge just in case.

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With all the concern about this month's E. coli outbreak caused by fresh spinach, I have been operating under the assumption that one should avoid all spinach both cooked and raw. Given my meat intake, avoiding Popeye's favorite veggie in all its forms is no big deal for me.

I was ordering dinner at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants the other night when I found myself craving some greens to go with my short ribs. Without a second thought, I asked the waiter for a side of baby spinach with garlic. As he returned to the kitchen it dawned on me that I had ordered greens that might be harboring E. coli. Rather than change my order, I threw caution to the wind. The bright green baby spinach leaves studded through with tiny pieces of garlic and sitting atop a shallow pool of their cooking liquid were delicious.

As I walked home I was more than a little concerned that I might fall ill with cramps and perhaps worse. As you may now have guessed nothing of the sort occurred. The reason, as I just learned from an article in The Boston Globe this morning is that cooking destroys E. coli in spinach. So eat your greens with gusto, as long as they're cooked, that is.

The results of a four year study of over 15,000 Americans shows that fewer people are eating "risky" foods associated with E. Coli, salmonella and other foodborne diseases. The number of people eating foods such as undercooked meat, raw oysters and seafood and runny eggs dropped by about 10 percent between 1998 and 2002, according to the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet. Men ages 18 to 64 were almost 10 percent more likely to eat risky foods than women of the same age. For some reason, people 18 years and younger with compromised immune systems were more likely to eat risky foods. The most commonly eaten food on the list was runny eggs, reported FoodConsumer.org.