Public Warned of Tainted Meat

Illnesses among consumers have prompted a California company to recall about 75,000 pounds of potentially contaminated ground beef products sold in 10 Western states, including Oregon.

The products, sold in Oregon only at Albertsons, could contain E. coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly bacterium. No one in Oregon has reported becoming sick from the meat, company and Oregon health officials said.

The ground beef products, made by United Food Group, a California company, carry sell-by dates of April 20 to May 7. United Food and Supervalu, which operates Albertsons Inc. stores, are recalling the product sold at outlets in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, and from Sav-A-Lot stores in Arizona, California and Nevada.

Because the latest sell-by date is May 7, it’s likely that any remaining hamburger would be found in customers’ freezers, said Albertsons spokeswoman Donna Eggers. Customers should return the meat to the store where they bought it. Eggers said she didn’t know how much was sold in Oregon stores. The meat was sold under the Moran’s and Albertsons brands.

There have been reports of people falling ill and being hospitalized in California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, said Brian Levy, vice president for sales and marketing of United Food Group. None of the illnesses was life-threatening, he said.

After some people got sick, scientists tested samples of the beef and found E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The bacterium can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration and, in some cases, kidney failure. Children younger than 5, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible to food-borne illness.

Dr. Paul Cieslak, head of acute and communicable diseases for the Oregon Public Health Division, said he believes recalls of ground beef have declined in the past decade. One of the largest recalls occurred in 1997 when Hudson Foods Co. recalled 25 million pounds of beef because of E. coli contamination. That case brought more scrutiny of the industry by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cieslak said big meat companies typically test hamburger by taking samples from huge bins of the product and sending them to labs for analysis.

Because of the need to move the product into markets while it’s fresh, he said, "They don’t necessarily wait for the testing results to come back before they ship the product."

Hamburger has long posed safety hazards for consumers. The E. coli O157:H7 bacterium lives naturally in the intestines of cattle and is expelled in their fecal matter.

During meat processing it’s possible for small amounts of feces to become ground up along with the beef. If hamburger isn’t cooked to at least 160 degrees, contaminated beef at the center of a patty could cause illness in someone who eats it.

"Any undercooking of ground beef puts you at risk for it," Cieslak said.

Although properly cooking hamburger is certain to neutralize E. coli, salad lovers don’t have that option.

Last September a widespread outbreak of E. coli was traced to spinach grown in California. A month later, the bacterium sneaked into supplies of lettuce, causing another round of illnesses.

Those produce-associated sicknesses have focused food-safety officials’ attention on leafy green vegetables, forcing a reassessment of safety standards in that industry.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 73,000 people become ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections each year and that 61 die.

—–

To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper, go to http://www.oregonian.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.