Cargill Recalls Over 1 Million Pounds of Beef

According to a press release from Cargill Meat Solutions, more than 1 million pounds of beef are being voluntarily recalled by the company because the meat may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The beef, produced at Cargill's Wyalusing, Pennsylvania facility, was processed between October 8th and October 11th and reached stores throughout much of the nation. The recall was prompted when tests performed on the meat by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed a positive result for E. coli.

The recalled Cargill meat has been distributed to Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and has been sold in various packages, weights, and expiration dates. The affected packages contain "Est. 9400" within the USDA inspection mark and, as the use by/freeze by dates affected have now passed, the potentially tainted meat will most likely be found in freezers. However, because some of the ground beef, ground chuck, and ground sirloin meat was shipped on for further processing and packaging, some packages will not exhibit same establishment number. A list of affected meat products can be found at the end of this article. Recalled meat should be either discarded or returned to the store from which it was purchased.

John Keating, the president of Cargill Regional Beef, said in the press release "no illnesses have been associated with this product." Keating went on to say that the company "is working closely with the USDA to remove the product from the marketplace."

Cargill's news statement reports E. coli O157:H7 is potentially deadly and can produce symptoms such as bloody diarrhea and dehydration, and is most dangerous in the very young, the elderly, and those whose immune systems may not tolerate a food-borne illness.