(RightWing.org) – Tons of beef products are being recalled over bacterial fears. A Pennsylvania meat packer accidentally used thousands of pounds of potentially contaminated meat and it ended up on Walmart shelves across the northeast US. Now the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is warning consumers not to eat it.
On April 20, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert for 16,243 pounds of beef products manufactured at a Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
The products were made from meat that had been “segregated” because it was potentially contaminated with the same strain of E. coli linked to another recall last month. Meat processing plants routinely segregate suspect meat until it can be thoroughly tested, but it seems an error at the plant caused this batch to be sent to the production line. There, it was turned into a range of products:
- All Natural Lean Ground Beef, lot code 117 (2.25 pounds)
- Prime Rib Beef Steak Burgers Patties, lot code 118 (1.33 pounds)
- Fat All Natural Angus Premium Ground Beef, lot code 117 (2.25 pounds)
- Fat All Natural Ground Beef Chuck, lot code 118 (2.25 pounds)
- Fat All Natural Ground Beef Chuck Patties, lot code 118 (1.33 pounds)
- Fat All Natural Good Beef Sirloin Patties, lot code 118 (1.33 pounds)
These products were shipped to Walmart stores in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. The affected packages have a use/freeze by date of April 22, 2024, and a packaging date of 032824. They also have the number EST. 86P printed inside the label. The USDA is warning anyone who’s purchased them to either throw them out or return them to the store where they bought them.
E. coli can cause a range of symptoms including abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and dehydration. In severe cases, it can be fatal.
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