The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a recall of about 6,768 pounds of ground beef products, including ready-made burger patties, after samples were found to have E. coli, a potentially dangerous infection.
The federal agency reported on Sunday that Valley Meats, a Coal Valley beef and pork products wholesaler that primarily caters to the foodservice industry across 27 states, was recalling seven different types of beef products due to contamination concerns.
It stated that it was "concerned that some product may be in institutional or restaurant refrigerators or freezers." It asked anyone who acquired the recalled products to either throw them away or return them to the store where they were purchased.
E. coli is a varied collection of bacteria found naturally in the environment, some of which generate a toxin that can cause illness such as stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms appear three days after infection, and between five and ten percent of persons who catch the sickness suffer a potentially fatal complication that can cause a person's kidneys to cease working.
According to FSIS, the recalled items were delivered to distributors in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan for further distribution to restaurants and hospitality services. All were completed on December 22.
"The problem was discovered when the establishment notified FSIS that samples of ground beef products submitted to a third-party laboratory for microbiological analysis tested positive for E. coli," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated.
The recall includes 12- and 16-pound boxes of Angus ground beef patties with January 15 expiry dates; 13.5-, 24-, and 28-pound boxes of ground beef patties with the same expiry date; and 20- and 40-pound boxes of ground beef.
The precise boxes susceptible to the notice were manufactured during specific timeframes and have specific codes assigned by FSIS. The FSIS recommended anyone who was concerned about becoming unwell as a result of consuming the items to seek medical attention.
The ground beef recall is the most recent to be prompted by concerns about bacterial contamination. An Ohio firm recalled a variety of deli salads the week before Christmas owing to worries that they may contain listeria, while Quaker Oats withdrew granola items the week before due to salmonella contamination.
A different Illinois meat dealer recalled nearly 2,000 pounds of beef patties in April after getting "multiple" complaints about white plastic in the goods. It comes just a month after a Minnesota-based catering company was compelled to remove frozen beef pastry from state schools due to fears that they contained wire-like metal.
Meanwhile, people north of Tampa, Florida, were recently advised to boil their tap water before using it "out of an abundance of caution" following a burst main that triggered preventive steps against pathogen contamination, including E. coli.