More beef, chicken products recalled as E. coli contamination spreads

Where’s the beef? Not on stores’ shelves, that’s for sure, if it came from Vernon, California-based United Food Group. The meet supplier on Saturday once again expanded a beef recall to include a total of 5.7 million pounds of both fresh and frozen products because they may be contaminated with E. coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced.

United Food Group already had announced two recalls, on 3 June and 6 June, but a recent positive test for E. coli in a patient in Arizona pushed the company to expand the recall. The tainted meat has sickened fourteen people across the country — six in Arizona, three in California, two in Colorado, and one each in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. All have recovered.

Fox News reports that the products recalled were produced in the two-week period of 6 April to 20 April and were shipped to stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Meanwhile, Springfield, Arkansas-based Tyson Fresh Meats on Friday recalled more than 40,000 pounds of ground beef shipped to Wal-Mart stores in twelve states after samples tested at a Sherman, Texas, plant showed signs of E. coli contamination. No illnesses had been reported. Tyson said the recall is not related to contaminated ground beef distributed by California-based United Food Group. The recalled products were sent to Wal-Mart stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

Wal-Mart has removed the products from its meat cases and is destroying the recalled ground beef still in its possession, officials said.

Tyson recalled 40,440 pounds of ground beef, all of which had sell-by dates of 13 June. The ground beef was sold in prepackaged trays that were placed directly into the meat case.

See list of recalled products at this USDA Web site.