USA Today

September 26, 2018

By: Mike Snider

Click here to link to the original article at USAToday.com

Here's another reason to check your freezer: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says some of the 132,000 pounds of ground beef products recalled last week may have been sold nationwide at stores including Target, Safeway and Sam's Club.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service on Sept. 19 issued a notice that Cargill Meat Solutions was recalling 66 tons of ground beef products made from the chuck portion of the cow for possible E. coli contamination.

The agency now says the products may have been sold at Meijer, Safeway/Albertson's and Target stores nationally, as well as Sam's Club stores in North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia, Aldi stores in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Other retailers that may have sold the products: FoodMaxx, Pak N Save, and Vons stores in California.

Additional retailers may have gotten the product, and not all stores identified necessarily received the product, the USDA says.

Officials are concerned some shoppers may have purchased the ground beef products and put them in the freezer. Consumers who have purchased the products are urged not to consume them, the agency says. Instead, they should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

An investigation into the potentially contaminated ground beef identified 17 illnesses and one death with illness onset dates ranging from July 5 to July 25.

Officials said the ground beef was produced and packaged on June 21, 2018, and affects 12 different Cargill products. The full list of products can be found on the USDA's site.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 86R” inside the USDA mark of inspection. This marks the second consecutive month in which Cargill, a Colorado-based meat producer, has recalled thousands of pounds of ground beef for possible E. coli risks.

Cargill recalled more than 25,000 pounds of ground beef for an E. coli risk on Aug. 23. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of products in that recall, according to the USDA.

Contributing: Justin L. Mack, The Indianapolis Star