The meat supplier behind the salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 250 people is now recalling 99,000 more pounds of meat due to E. coli fears
- Almost 100,000 pounds of beef is being recalled by meat supplier JBS USA due to E. coli concerns.
- The recall comes less than two months after JBS recalled 6.9 million pounds of beef linked to a salmonella outbreak.
- The salmonella outbreak has sicked more than 240 people in 25 states and resulted in at least 59 hospitalizations.
A meat supplier is recalling 99,260 pounds of raw beef due to E. coli concerns, less than two months after another major recall.
On Saturday, JBS USA recalled almost 100,000 pounds of products from its Swift Beef facility in Utah due to concerns that the beef may be contaminated with E. coli.
This is the second major recall from JBS in recent months. In October, the meat producer recalled roughly 6.9 million pounds of raw beef products due to salmonella concerns. The beef products were sold under numerous brands, including Cedar River Farms, Comnor Perfect Choice, Gourmet Burger, Grass Run Farms, and Showcase, which is sold at Walmart.
As of last week, 246 people in 25 states had been sickened in the salmonella outbreak linked to JBS beef, according to CDC data. Fifty-nine of these people had been hospitalized.
The E. coli problem was discovered last week when the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service tested beef from the supplier, which had moved on to another processing facility, and found that it had been contaminated with E. coli.
So far, there have been no reported illnesses linked to the most recent recall, which was sparked by concerns that the beef was contaminated with an E. coli strain called O157:H7.
"E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2-8 days (3-4 days, on average) after exposure to the organism," the Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a statement. "While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)."
E. coli fears have triggered some of the largest product recalls in recent American history. Five people died in an E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce harvested in the Yuma, Arizona, region earlier this year.
