BJ’s Wholesale Club Ground Beef Recall for E. coli 026
The only retailer identified so far as a distributor of recalled Cargill ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli 026 is BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in eight northeastern and eastern states.
USDA has associated the Cargill E. coli ground beef recall with three confirmed illnesses caused by the identical strain of E. coli 026. There are two cases in Maine and one in New York. The agency’s initial Cargill ground beef recall distribution list includes 26 BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in Maine, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York.
An active E. coli ground beef investigation is continuing. The tainted Cargill ground beef was produced June 11 for use or freezing by July 1. People started to get sick June 24. Public health officials at the state and federal level are concerned that more outbreak cases could surface if consumers unknowingly pull recalled ground beef from their home freezers for meal preparation.
Cargill’s recalled ground beef was sold to BJ’s Wholesale Club in 42-pound cases. Fourteen-pound “chubs” inside the cases were for repackaging into trays of ground beef for sale in BJ’s Wholesale Club meat cases. The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 9400″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. The Class I recall covers 8,500 pounds of Cargill ground beef.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, E. coli O157:H7 causes 73,000 illnesses and 50 deaths every year in the United States. Another six E. coli strains – including O26 — are less pervasive but just as capable of causing severe illness, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
Due to a gaping shortfall in federal law, only E. coli 0157:H7 is banned from ground beef as an adulterant. The prohibition hasn’t ended E. coli 0157:H7 contamination, but it has forced meatpackers to constantly test for it and it also calls for routine government testing of the products.
Maine E. coli Ground Beef Investigation
A Maine E. coli ground beef investigation traced E. coli 026 illnesses in Maine and New York to Cargill ground beef recalled early today in conjunction with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
An FSIS ground beef recall announcement said Cargill Meat Solutions Corp of Pennsylvania is recalling 8.500 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli 026, a potentially lethal human pathogen. The meat was produced June 11 and sold in 14-pound “chubs” to retailers who repackaged it for meat case display. The affected store brands haven’t been announced yet. The tainted ground beef was initially shipped to distribution centers in Connecticut and Maryland for further sale.
Two people from Maine and one from New York have been infected by the same identical strain of E. coli 026 and health investigators in the two states are continuing their efforts to learn the extent of this outbreak. Cargill is a large multi-national corporation that has been involved in E. coli ground beef recalls and outbreaks in the past. FSIS has found a convincing association between the Maine and New York E. coli cases and ground beef from Cargill.
Eating ground beef is a well-established mode of shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). The most prevalent type of STEC is O157:H7, but E. coli 026 also produces shiga toxin that attacks a person’s red blood cells. In 5 to 15 percent of STEC infections, patients develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a related condition.
HUS is the leading cause of kidney failure, worldwide, in children. It also can damage other parts of a person’s body, including the heart, brain and central nervous system. HUS in children is deadly in about 5 percent of cases.
Here is the Cargill E. coli ground beef recall announcement:
The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 9400″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. The recall includes 42-pound cases of “GROUND BEEF FINE 90/10,” containing three (3) – approximately 14 pound chubs each. These products have a “use/freeze by” date of “07/01/10,” and an identifying product code of “W69032.”
Valley Meat E. coli Recall Amended
USDA has ammended its recall announcement regarding Valley Meat Company, Modesto, California, a meatpacker that recalled about 1 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties and other ground beef due to possible E. coli 0157:H7 contamination. 
The meat has been associated with a cluster of 7 E. coli infections in people who live in California.
The recall announcement is being amended to revise the geographic distribution and to note that some of the recalled products were distributed to a firm in California for further processing. The further-processing facility is not named. The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 8268″ inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as a production code of 27509 through 01210. These products were produced on various dates between Oct. 2, 2009 and Jan. 12, 2010. They were distributed to retail outlets and institutional foodservice providers in California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and internationally, and to a firm in California for further processing, the amended recall said.
USDA became aware of the problem on July 15 when the agency was notified by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) of a small E. coli O157:H7 cluster of illnesses with a rare strain as determined by DNA fingerprinting. A total of six patients with illness onset dates between April 8 and June 18, 2010 were reported at that time. After further review, CDPH added another patient from February to the case count, bringing the count to seven.
FSIS is continuing to work with the CDPH and the company on the investigation. Anyone with signs or symptoms of foodborne illness should contact a health care provider.
E. coli Ground Beef Recall by South Gate Meat Co.
An E. coli ground beef recall has been issued by South Gate Meat Company after E. coli O157:H7 contamination was discovered in the meat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The South Gate, California company ground beef recall includes about 35,000 pounds of various ground beef products that have the establishment number “EST. 6217″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. They were produced from June 7, 2010 through June 21, 2010 and distributed to Los Angeles restaurants and other restaurants in the Orange County area. The recalled beef includes the following products:
- 20-, 30- and 40-pound bulk packages of “SOUTH GATE MEAT CO. GROUND BEEF.”
- 30-, 40-, and 50-pound bulk packages of “SOUTH GATE MEAT CO. COARSE GROUND BEEF.”
- 10- and 20-pound packages of “SOUTH GATE MEAT CO. GROUND BEEF PATTIES.
Inspection of samples through microbiological testing by the FSIS originally revealed the E. coli beef contamination.
E. coli Outbreak Fears Prompt New York Ground Beef Recall
An E. coli ground beef recall has been issued by Crown I Enterprises, Inc. of Bay Shore, New York, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The FSIS classifies this E. coli O157:H7 ground beef recall as a “Class I” Recall, which means, according to the FSIS:
“This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”
The recall involves about 3,700 pounds of various ground beef products that may be contaminated with this dangerous pathogen. This was discovered through microbiological testing by the FSIS. The potentially Ecoli-contaminated beef products that are being recalled have the establishment code “EST. 20889″ inside the USDA mark of inspection and are dated “10164″ and “10166.” Produced on June 11, 2010, and June 15, 2010, these products were distributed to food service institutions in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York and include the following products:
- 24, 8-ounce burgers in 12-pound boxes of “W.B. STOCKYARD, KEEP REFRIGERATED, BURGER FRESH, WB HOME STYLE 8 OZ.”
- 32, 6-ounce burgers in 12-pound boxes of “W.B. STOCKYARD, KEEP REFRIGERATED, BURGER FRESH 6 OZ.”
- 48, 4-ounce burgers in 12-pound boxes of “W.B. STOCKYARD, KEEP REFRIGERATED, BURGER FRESH, 4 OZ.”
- 10-pound boxes of “W.B. STOCKYARD, KEEP REFRIGERATED, BEEF GROUND/EXTRA LEAN.”
- 10- and 20-pound boxes of “W.B. STOCKYARD, KEEP REFRIGERATED, BEEF GROUND 80/20.”
