CHICAGO (Reuters) - Topps Meat Company LLC has expanded its recall to include 21.7 million pounds (9,800 tonnes) of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, the Elizabeth, New Jersey-based company said on Saturday.

The beef has a "sell by date" or "best if used by date" between September 25, 2007, and September 25, 2008. All recalled products will have a U.S. Department of Agriculture establishment number of EST 9748, which is located on the back panel of the package and/or in the USDA legend.

On Tuesday, the company announced a recall of 331,582 (150 tonnes) pounds of frozen ground beef products.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If you have a hard time hearing conversation at a bar, it may not be because of the noise, a study suggests.

Alcohol, UK researchers found, seems to temporarily drain a person's hearing -- particularly when it comes to discerning the sounds of conversation.

In a study of 30 healthy volunteers, they found that as participants drank, their hearing became less acute. Lower-frequency hearing, which is necessary for discerning speech, suffered the most, the researchers report in the online journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders.

NAUTLA, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Lorenzo crashed into Mexico's Gulf coast on Friday, killing three people in a mudslide and knocking out power to 85,000 homes.

In the coastal fishing town of Nautla, Lorenzo's 80 mph (130 kph) winds ripped off bits of roofs, blew down trees and scattered debris in the streets.

"It hit us hard and there is an incredible amount of rain," said Mayra Castro, 29, a waitress who spent the night mopping up water that leaked into her house through windows and under doors.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An icky parasite that is a major source of tummy trouble for young children and nature lovers appears to have been infecting mammals for a very long time, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Giardia lamblia is one of the most common human parasites in the United States, causing more than 20,000 intestinal infections each year.

A complete genetic sequence of this parasite now suggests it had ancestors reaching back more than a billion years.

"We think it is deep in the evolutionary tree," said Hilary Morrison, of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, whose study appears in the journal Science.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada - A report issued today by two of the world's foremost risk experts, warns that the catastrophic impacts of a long-lasting pandemic are not only likely to happen, but overdue.

The study, funded by the large pharmacetical company Roche, also says the impact of a pandemic is likely to exceed what most corporate and governmental leaders imagine, or are prepared for. This comes on the heels of U.S. government reports issued earlier this month that come to similar conclusions. 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are skeptical of imported food and other products after repeated safety scares, said lawmakers on Wednesday, who want to give the Food and Drug Administration more power to inspect imports and recall defective ones.

The "system has pretty much fallen apart from top to bottom," said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing. "People are shocked by the continuing number of food safety issues we have."

Organizers of the three-day replenishment conference for the Fund expect to raise at least $8 billion for 2008-2010 for projects to fight the three diseases which, they say, claim 6 million lives a year.