Local recall of ground beef products

“At National Beef, simply meeting industry standards isn’t good enough,” according to the website of the company who is announcing that the company is recalling approximately 60,424 pounds of ground beef products.

Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed that National Beef Packing Co. LLC, a Dodge City, Kansas establishment, suspects that those ground beef products may be adulterated with E. coli O157:H7.

Ground beef chubs produced on July 23, 2011, with a “Freeze by” Date of August 12, 2011, and those produced on July 25, 2011, with a “Freeze by” Date of August 14, 2011, are the products affected.

Specifically, “National Beef 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck” identified by the product code 483, 684, 782, 785 or 787, and “National Beef 81/19 Fine Ground Beef” identified by the product code 431, 471 or 494, have been recalled. The products bear the establishment number “Est. 262” within the USDA mark of inspection.

Unfortunately, the products likely were re-packaged into consumer-size portions and sold under different retail brand names. The retail, re-packaged products are sold in the southeast at Publix, Winn-Dixie and Kroger grocery stores.

Publix confirmed that local stores in St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler, Duval and Clay counties did receive the products. A Publix spokesman in Lakeland said, “Consumers who have purchased the products in question may return the product to their local store for a full refund.”

Publix products included Seasoned Beef Meatballs, Meat Loaf (Oven Ready), Ground Chuck Patties, Ground Chuck, Stuffed Peppers, Seasoned Salisbury Steak, Montreal Seasoned Chuck Patties, Mesquite Seasoned Chuck Patties, Badia Seasoned Chuck Patties, Steakhouse Ground Chuck Patties, Jalapeno Burger, Bacon & Cheddar Burger, A/B Ground Chuck, Blue Cheese Burger, SC Bacon Cheddar Burger, SC Seasoned Beef Meatball, SC Blue Cheese Burger, SC Meat Loaf (Oven Ready), SC Stuffed Peppers, “SC Pork, Beef, Ham Meatball”, Horseradish Cheddar Burger, SC Montreal Seasoned Chuck Patties, SC Horseradish Burger, SC Jalapeno Burger, Ground Chuck Slider Patties, Ground Chuck for Chili and Beef and Pork for Meatloaf.

The USDA has classified this as a “Class I” recall; 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.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and in the most severe cases, kidney failure. The very young, seniors and persons with weak immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness.

Neither the Food Safety and Inspection Service nor National Beef Packing Co. LLC, have received reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products. Individuals concerned about an illness should contact a physician.

“The only way to be sure ground beef is cooked to a high enough temperature to kill harmful bacteria is to use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature; which must reach 160 degrees,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“National Beef delivers the safest beef possible,” the company says. “Our production facilities are divided into six functional zones; allowing us to control exposure and effectively develop strategies to control food safety based on the unique challenges of each zone.”

The problem was discovered as a result of routine microbial testing conducted by the Ohio Department of Agriculture at a state-inspected facility that had purchased these products for further processing.