U.S.

Upper Midwest Ground Beef Recall

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 3, 2000 / 11:23 AM EST / CBS

The nation's 10th-largest retail supermarket chain, SuperValu Inc., has voluntarily recalled ground beef products from some Cub Foods stores in the Midwest for possible E. coli after at least 21 people reported becoming ill, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Sunday.

SuperValu, which has 1,144 stores and brands such as Shop'N Save, said in a statement late Saturday that it pulled all fresh and unboxed frozen ground beef products from Cub Foods stores in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, and the Chicago and Indianapolis metropolitan areas traced to Wisconsin meatpacker American Foods Group Inc.

E. coli is one of the most dangerous forms of food-borne illnesses and can be fatal for young children, the elderly or others with weak immune systems.

Anyone who purchased the beef from Cub Foods stores since Nov. 1 should return it for a refund, the company said.

"Food safety is an important issue for us," SuperValu CEO Mike Wright told CBS Station WCCO-TV. "That's why within an hour of getting a call that there was a problem from the (Minnesota) state health department, we moved to recall this product, take it off the shelves, tell all of our customers not to cook it, not to eat it, to bring it back for a full refund."

A statement from SuperValue added "this aggressive action was necessitated in part by the probable identification of a federally inspected Green Bay, Wisconsin packer — American Foods Group Inc. — as the source of the E. coli contamination."

The USDA said the amount of product subject to the recall was not available.

The recall resulted from a Minnesota state epidemiological investigation following at least 21 illnesses, the USDA said.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service "is working diligently with state officials to verify the presence of the pathogen in the product and to conduct a traceback investigation to definitively determine its source," the USDA said.

SuperValu's retail operations consist of more than 1,120 stores across 38 states, generating more than $20 billion annually in company sales.

"Because of the potential for food-borne illness, we want consumers to be aware of the recall," said Ronald Hicks, acting FSIS administrator. "Consumers who purchased ground beef at any of the above locations should not eat it and return it to the store."

The following locations are affected:

Cub Foods stores in Minnesota, La Crosse and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the Chicago and Indianapolis metropolitan areas
County Market, Montevideo, Minnesota.
County Market, Winona, Minnesota.
County Market, Marshall, Minnesota.
Jerry's Foods, Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
County Market, Prior Lake, Minnesota
Juba's Supervalu, Blue Earth, Minnesota.
Ed's Supervalu, Richland Center, Wisconsin.
Tim's Supervalu, Winthrop, Minnesota.
Marches Supervalu, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jerry's Foods, Edina, Minnesota.
Kwalski's, Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Supervalu, 98th St., Bloomington, Minnesota.
County Market, Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
County Market, Champlin, Minnesota.
Penn Lake Supervalu, Bloomington, Minnesota.
Driskill's, Excelsior, Minnesota.
Steve's Supervalu, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Tauer's Supervalu, Springfield, Minnesota.
Kowalski's Market, White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Bergan's Supervalu, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
County Market, Forest Lake, Minnesota.