One million pounds of frozen ground beef patties and bulk ground beef products from a Modesto, Calif. establishment, Valley Meat Company, recalled due to possible Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 contaminated.

As reference, infection with this bacteria often leads to hemorrhagic diarrhea both severing or acute, abdominal cramp, haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) that linked to kidney failure, especially in young children and elderly.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), they become concern with the problem on July 15 when the agency was notified by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) of a small E. coli O157:H7 cluster of illnesses with a rare strain as determined by PFGE subtyping.

At that time, 6 patients reported illness onset between April 8 and June 18, 2010, and 1 patient included in February.

The FSIS suggest, anyone with signs or symptoms of foodborne illness as above mention should contact their health care provider.

The recall products bear the establishment number “EST. 8268″ inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as a production code of 27509 through 01210.
The products were produced between October 2, 2009 through January 12, 2010 and were distributed to retail outlets and institutional foodservice providers in California, Arizona,Texas, Oregon, and internationally.

FSIS and the establishment are concerned that some product may still be frozen and in consumer’s freezers, therefore, FSIS strongly encourages consumers to check their freezers and immediately discard any product that is the subject of this recall.

FSIS advises all consumers to safely prepare their raw meat products, including fresh and frozen, and only consume ground beef that has been cooked into a temperature of 160° F to confirm that ground beef is cooked high enough temperature and using food thermometer to confirm harmful bacteria killed.

All questions regarding this product recall can contact directly to the company’s spokespeople, Vanessa Smith at (916) 492-5314 or Brooke Burgess at (916) 492-5321.