Nearly 70 tons of ground beef has been recalled over concerns about bacterial contamination.
Cargill is recalling almost 133,000 pounds of beef after potential E. coli contamination was reported. The beef in question was made from the chuck portion of beef carcasses and was packaged June 21 with use-by or freeze-by dates in July. The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service was notified Aug. 16 of an investigation underway.
Early indications are the meat was processed by Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colo., and distributed nationwide.
At this time, Country Mart, Good’s Cash Saver and Dillons say they were unaffected. Walmart’s website, meanwhile, says the ground beef in question went to select Sam’s Club locations but not to Walmart stores. A news release from Aldi said it has pulled Cargill ground beef from all its stores in Kansas and 10 other states.
So far, one person has died and nearly 20 people have developed illnesses. E. coli can lead to diarrhea and vomiting as well as dehydration or even kidney failure. The federal government says E. coli can be avoided by cooking ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Proper hand-washing is also needed when handling raw meat, poultry and eggs.
Click here for the FSIS web page containing information about the ground beef products under recall.
