Contamination Fears Prompt Recall of Half-Million Pounds of Ground Beef
Nearly 546,000 pounds of ground beef from a New York meat company have been recalled amid fears the food may tainted with the bacteria E. coli and responsible for at least one consumer death and two illnesses.
Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the recall over the weekend, according to an Associated Press report, following reports of food poisoning linked to contaminated meat in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts.
E. coli is a form of bacteria that is commonly associated with serious and deadly forms of food poisoning. Symptoms of E. coli include stomach cramps, which may be severe, and diarrhea that may turn bloody within one to three days, officials said. In the most serious cases, E. coli can result in fatal complications, including kidney failure.
Meat Sold at Popular Stores
The tainted Fairbank Farms meat was sold at Trader Joes, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw’s, BJ’s, Ford Brothers, and Giant stores in packages with labels marked “EST. 492.” The ground beef was packaged on Sept. 15 and 16 and the recalled packages may be labeled with a sell-by date ranging from Sept. 19 through Sept. 28, officials said.
More contaminated ground beef may have been sold by Fairbank Farms directly to stores in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and may have been repackaged with different labeling and sell by dates, officials warned.
Earlier Fairbank Farms Recalls
Fairbank Farms has been involved in earlier recalls of contaminated meat, USDA officials said.
In September 2007, about 884 pounds of the company’s ground beef products were ordered taken off store shelves because they may have been contaminated with E. coli, the agency said. Then, in May 2008, the company recalled 22,481 pounds of ground beef products that may have contained pieces of plastic.
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