Cargill Beef,a business unit of Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions,is recalling 29,339 pounds of fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis,according to the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service(FSIS).
Produced at the company's establishment in Wyalusing,Pennsylvania,on 25 May 2012,the products were shipped to distribution centers in Connecticut,Maine and New York for further distribution.
The products subject to the recall are-14 pound chub packages of'Grnd Beef Fine 85/15',packed 3 chubs to approximate 42-pound cases.They bear the establishment number'EST.9400'inside the USDA mark of inspection.
These products were repackaged into consumer-size packages and sold under different retail brand names.
While the use-by date has passed and these products are no longer available for retail sale,FSIS and the company have noted that some product may be frozen in consumers'freezers.
This recall has been classified as Class I,which indicates a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious,adverse health consequences or death.
FSIS identified this problem during the course of an ongoing investigation of a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis involving 33 case-patients from seven states in the US.
Working in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC)and public health partners,FDA was able to link illnesses in five case-patients to the ground beef products produced at this establishment.
According to FSIS,this outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis is drug sensitive,which indicates that antibiotics can be effective in treating patients who need them.FSIS noted that it is continuing to work with CDC and public health partners on the investigation.
Consumption of food contaminated with salmonella may cause salmonellosis,a foodborne illness.Salmonellosis may lead to serious and sometimes deadly infections in young children,the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.
