E. coli fear triggers big beef recall

Cargill Inc. said Saturday that it was recalling more than 1 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, the second time in less than a month it has voluntarily recalled beef that may have been tainted.

No illnesses have been reported, said John Keating, president of Cargill Regional Beef.

The agribusiness giant produced the beef between Oct. 8 and Oct. 11 at a plant in Wyalusing, Pa., and distributed it to retailers across the country. They include Giant, Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, Wegmans and Weis.

Cargill learned the meat might be contaminated after the U.S. Agriculture Department found a problem with a sample of the beef produced on Oct. 8, the company said. The bacteria is E. coli O157:H7.

A spokeswoman for Cargill said 10 states are involved in the recall -- Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

“We are working closely with the USDA to remove this product from the marketplace,” Keating said in a statement.

Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the USDA Food and Safety Inspection Service, said her agency would work with Cargill to track 1,084,384 pounds of beef that could be contaminated and remove it from store shelves.

“We do look in all directions to ensure that products that could be contaminated are not available to consumers,” Eamich said.

On Oct. 6, Cargill voluntarily recalled more than 840,000 pounds of ground beef patties distributed at Sam’s Club stores nationwide after four Minnesota children and four Wisconsin adults who ate the food developed E. coli illness, which is the same strain that was detected to prompt the latest recall.

A lawsuit is pending from that outbreak.

In late September, Topps Meat Co. recalled 21.7 million pounds of its patties because of E. coli concerns, the second-largest U.S. beef recall, and then closed its business.

The USDA said later Saturday that it would increase testing and reinspection of poultry and meat imported from Canada.

“Effective next week, the FSIS will increase testing for salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 and will require shipments be held until testing is complete and products are confirmed negative for these pathogens,” said Dr. Richard Raymond, the USDA undersecretary for food safety.

He said the Canada audit would focus on Ranchers Beef Ltd., identified as the likely source of the outbreak that led to the Topps recall.