ng Co. of Detroit, MI, is recalling approximately 1.8 million pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Monday.At the time that the recall was issued, there were 11 illnesses linked to the recalled product.
The ground beef products were produced between March 31, 2014, and April 18, 2014. Click here to see the full list of products that were recalled.
The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 2574B” and will have a production date code in the format “Packing Nos: MM DD 14” between “03 31 14” and “04 18 14”.
These products were shipped to distributors for restaurant use in Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. There was no distribution of the products to the Department of Defense, the National School Lunch Program, or catalog/Internet sales.
Factors that can contribute to the size of the recall include potential contamination of additional products due to a lack of microbiological independence between lot production, as well as a deficiency in supportive record-keeping by distributors.
FSIS was notified of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses on May 12, 2014. Working in conjunction with public health partners from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), FSIS determined that there is a link between the ground beef products from Wolverine Packing Co. and this illness cluster.
Based on epidemiological and traceback investigations, 11 case-patients have been identified in four states, with illness onset dates ranging from April 22, 2014, to May 2, 2014. There were 5 case patients in Michigan, 1 case patient in Massachusetts, 4 case patients in Ohio, and 1 case patient in Missouri. The case patient’s age ranged from 19 to 46.
The CDC is continuing to investigate the illness cluster and will be posting information on the investigation later this evening.
