Grant Packing Beef Recall

Grant packing beef recall

MIAMI, Fla — The Illinois company Grant Packing issued a recall of over 50,000 pounds of ground beef due to concerns that the bacteria E. coli infected the raw beef. The Miami Herald reported that Grant Packing recalled 53,200 pounds of fresh beef products at 1:45 a.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2019. This most recent recall comes on the heels of another recall by a different company 24 hours earlier. Both beef product recalls are related to the E. coli outbreak stemming from consuming raw beef that has afflicted people in 11 states, mostly in the southeastern region of the United States.

The Miami Herald reported that the Grant Packing beef was shipped to Minnesota and Kentucky. The company labeled the products for “institutional use.” The phrase has a wide range of applicable uses including larger cafeterias in places like school and prisons. However, Colorado Premium Foods, which announced a recall of 113,000 pounds of ground beef on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, shipped its contaminated product to restaurants located in Florida and Georgia.

To date, 156 people fell ill from E. coli poisoning after consuming ground beef products from this recent outbreak. Federal regulators and health organizations such as the U.S.D.A. and the C.D.C. have not been able to identify the source of the outbreak. The investigators have disclosed that raw ground beef is the source of the E. coli infections. As of this time, three people in Florida fell sick, and 153 others fell sick in ten other states. Approximately 140 of those people ate contaminated beef in Kentucky, Georgia, or Tennessee.

The Miami Herald reported that twenty out of the 156 people who took sick required hospitalization. Fortunately, none have developed the potentially fatal kidney condition hemolytic uremic syndrome that an E. coli infection can cause.

The USDA determined through inspections that the recalled beef contained a particular strain of E. coli that has sickened most people.