Nearly 7,000 pounds of beef recalled over ‘potentially deadly’ bacteria

Nearly 6,800 pounds of uncooked beef patties and ground beef produced by an Illinois-based company recently became subject to a recall.

The recall by Valley Meats LLC arose from the possibility of the products being tainted by a strain of E. coli that the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) described in a Sunday recall alert as a “potentially deadly bacterium.”

The 6,768 pounds of meat affected by the recall came in box packages of certain sizes, all of them sporting “EST. 5712” within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection mark, the FSIS said. 

Distributor facilities in four states received the recalled meat for later shipments to restaurants and “other institutional users,” according to the FSIS. The states where the distributor locations were included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan.

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be in institutional or restaurant refrigerators or freezers,” the agency said. “Restaurants and institutions are urged not to serve these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”

The FSIS, which falls under the USDA’s umbrella, said the potentially affected ground beef and patties haven’t resulted in any known adverse reactions. 

FOX Business reached out to Valley Meats for additional comment about the recall but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The FSIS said Valley Meats told it samples that it had sent to a third-party lab had yielded positive results for E. coli 0157:H7, prompting the recall.

That E. coli strain is the “most common strain to cause illness in people,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. 

The FSIS said people exposed to the bacteria may exhibit dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Others can sometimes suffer from hemolytic uremic syndrome due to the strain, with that most frequently occurring in young children and older adults, according to the agency.

E. coli 0157:H7 leads to roughly 70,000 illnesses on an annual basis, according to Johns Hopkins.