Washington - Glenmark Industries Ltd., a Chicago meat processing firm, is voluntarily recalling 601,000 lbs of frozen ground beef produced this past summer that may be contaminated with a deadly strain of the E. coli bacteria, the U.S. Agriculture Department said.
There has been one illness, in New York state, associated with the product so far, the department said.
The recall covers meat produced by the company June 24 through July 10. Over half of the recalled product, or 366,000 pounds, was sold in retail packages that could still be in home freezers, the department said.
Glenmark has contacted its wholesale distributors and customers to retrieve the product, which may have been distributed nationwide, the department said.
“We're anticipating that 80 to 85 percent of this has already been consumed,” Dave Van Kampen, president of Glenmark Industries, said. “That obviously is what we're trying to determine right now.”
Van Kampen estimated it could take the company “about a week” to determine how much potentially contaminated product remains in distribution.
New York State Health Department officials tested an open package of frozen ground beef in the freezer of the ill customer and found E. coli O157:H7, the department said.
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service then traced the contaminated ground beef back to a lot from a warehouse in western Massachusetts and confirmed the finding.
Boxes or cartons of patties subject to recall can be identified by the following product names and codes:
* President's Choice Beef Patties, 3-oz patties in 3-lb packages with the date codes: 8179 followed by 16 through 24;
* President's Choice Thick and Juicy Beef Patties, 5.3-oz patties in 2-lb packages with the date codes: 8195 followed by the letters A through H;
* Glenmark 100% Pure Ground Beef Steak Eater's Beef in 3-lb packages with the date codes: 1768 followed by 23 and 24; 1778 followed by 18 through 24; 1828 followed by 08 through 23; 1878 followed by 07; 1918 followed by 15 through 23; 1958 followed by 22 through 24; and 1968 followed by 08 through 23;
* Glenmark Cookout Burgers in 3-lb packages and 2-lb packages with the date codes: 1758 followed by 08 through 15; 1778 followed by 08 through 17; and 1878 followed by 07 through 15;
* Glenmark The Great Grillsby Mildly Seasoned Beef Patties in 3-lb packages with the date codes: 1768 followed by 08 through 23; and 1898 followed by 07 through 15;
* Ground Beef Patties, P&C Foods, in 3-lb packages with date codes: 1828 followed by 22 or 23;
* Big M Supermarket Ground Beef Patties in 3-lb packages with date codes: 1828 followed by 19 through 21;
* Armour Premium Beef Burgers in 3-lb packages and 1.5-lb packages with date codes: 8175; 8182; 8187; 8189; 8190; 8191; 8196; 8197.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
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