Topps Meat Company (Topps Meat Company LLC) was a privately owned family company founded in 1940 by Benjamin Sachs in Manhattan, New York. The company later relocated to Elizabeth, New Jersey.[1][2][3] The company produced and distributed frozen ground beef patties and other meat products processed at its 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) plant in Elizabeth and posted about $8.8 million a year in sales, according to information reported by Dun & Bradstreet.[2][4] In 2003, the company was purchased by Strategic Investment and Holdings, an investment firm based in Buffalo, New York and by 2007 it was "one of the country’s largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers."[3] In 2007 the company ceased operations following Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli) contamination of products and the ensuing recall.[5][6][7]