Company Recalls Beef Over E. Coli Fears

(CBS)  A California company voluntarily recalled 370,000 pounds of beef in several western states because of the risk of possible E. coli contamination, CBS News reports.

Steven Cohen from the Food Safety and Inspection Service says 11 people have become ill, but the last known case to be possibly linked to this occurred in early May.

The ground beef products were shipped by United Food Group of Vernon, Calif., to retail distribution centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Although the possible contamination from E. coli during processing occurred on April 20th and the meat distributed was marked with a shelf life of May 6th and 7th, consumers are warned to check their freezers.

According to a statement released on behalf of United Food Group, the labels on the recalled products say "EST. 1241" inside the USDA mark of
inspection, or printed on the package. All of the suspect beef packages have a sell-by date of "Apr/29/07" or "Apr/30/07", a freeze-by date of
"Apr/28/07" or "Apr/30/07", or a produced-on date of "April 13-07".

The recall of the 370,000 pounds of tube-packaged beef is an expansion of a recall first announced three days ago, which only referred to meat with a production date of April 13th.

According to the company's statement, stores in all 11 of the western states where the recalled beef had been sold were able to confirm that none of the meat was still on shelves.

Todd Waldman, United's senior vice president, said in the statement: "Given our long history of focusing on product safety and our standards of excellence, we will err on the side of being cautious with this recall."
Ryan Corsaro

[mdc76082]

brainbwb, oh please. cut the definition cr_ap. I'm well aware of what it is, where it is, and who it can effect. You are nothing more than one of "those" who put fear and panic in peoples lives. Please spare me and the rest of the posters on here the agony of your MD wannabe wisdom. Oh, and I'll think of the L O N G H O R N when I grill my next hamburger or steak. Mmmmmmm. Yup. No threat here. Just some good'ol Texas beef! What's the total U.S. population? Ans: approx. 301,139,947 How many people are affected by E. coli every year??? Ans: approx. approx. 110,000 Degrees of infection not noted. Not very significant. Things seem pretty safe to me. Try washing your hands with good'ol soap & water once in awhile and wipe down as you clean. Stop relying on the "Antibacterials" that are shoved down the population's throats as the "quick cure all" to stop the panic of E. COLI CONTAMINATION. Common sense, and how we've seemed to have forgotten it.

[drummer94]

Every town has got that one great little store with a real butcher who grinds fresh beef every day. Why on earth would you want to buy tubed-beef?

[last121868]

deeanna50: I hear you! I have never bought the tubed beef and I never will... EEWW!

[deeanna50]

It always seems to be the beef in a tube that has a high recall. I wouldn't buy that stuff it was the last beef on this earth.

[jscribe58]

Isn't there something wrong with the way our food supply system is set up when the only way they know the food is contaminated is when people get sick or die?

It was hey, people are dying from spinach, stop using it. Then it was hey, pets are dying, so stop using the pet food. Now, it's hey, don't eat the beef.

My wife has gotten sick twice at Taco Bells - confirmed ecoli. We didn't sue, but were told both times that it was from employees not washing their hands right after going to the bathroom.

It's obvious that restaurants and food suppliers need a better system to be sure they get healthy food to us. It's getting scary to eat, worrying what's going to get us sick next. We lost our dog from what we suspect was the tainted food.

Where does it stop? We live in a country with the greatest technology in the world - surely we have the means to protect people from being poisoned.Where does the buck stop with this?

[brianbwb-2009]

to mdc76082,

E. coli is a bacterium that lives in the bowels of mammals, including man. Ingesting a foreign strain causes a bacteria war in your gut, that is the cause of "the squirts" it can be deadly for older people, infants, or those with otherwise compromised immune systems.

One method of transmission occurs when someone doesn't wash hands thoroughly after defecation, then handles food for others.

Think about it, the E. coli you eat in your next hamburger might be from your waiter's bowels, rather than from the cow's.

[mdc76082]

P A N I C and P A R A N O I A will be the destruction of this nation. Now everytime somebody get's a good'ol case of the squirts, it becomes an E. coli meltdown.