The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an E. coli outbreak can be traced to ground beef from Fairbank Farms.
(David Duprey/ Associated Press)
Tainted beef might be linked to 2 deaths
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an E. coli outbreak can be traced to ground beef from Fairbank Farms.
(David Duprey/ Associated Press)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Contaminated fresh ground beef caused a possible E. coli outbreak that killed two people and sent 16 others to hospitals, federal health officials said yesterday.
Twenty-eight people might have become ill after eating beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All but three of the suspected infections are in the northeastern United States and 18 are in New England, said a CDC spokeswoman, Lola Scott Russell.
Fairbank Farms recalled almost 546,000 pounds of ground beef that had been distributed in September to stores from North Carolina to Maine. The US Department of Agriculture’s recall notice, dated Saturday, said the possibly tainted meat had been sold in numerous ways, from meatloaf and meatball mix to hamburger patties.
Some of the beef was sold at Trader Joe’s, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw’s, BJ’s, Ford Brothers, and Giant stores in packages that carried the number “EST. 492’’ on the label. Those products were packaged Sept. 15-16 and may have been labeled with a sell-by date from Sept. 19 through Sept. 28, meaning they’re no longer being sold as fresh product in supermarkets, Fairbank Farms said.
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