Salmonella Ground Beef Recall Linked to Food Poisoning in 11 States

Forty people have fallen ill from salmonella food poisoning suspected of being linked to recently recalled ground beef that is tainted with an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria.

At least 21 people in Colorado and one person from Nebraska have been confirmed as having food poisoning after consuming beef contaminated with Salmonella Newport, the particular strain of salmonella that led to last week’s recall of more than 825,000 pounds of ground beef processed by Beef Packers Inc.

Reports suggested that another 19 cases of salmonella illness are suspected of being related to the salmonella ground beef, but the link has not been confirmed. Those additional reports include cases in California, Wyoming, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Illinois, South Dakota and Texas.

The salmonella ground beef recall was first announced last Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for meat produced by Beef Packers, Inc., a subsidiary of Cargill, Inc., between June 5 and June 23. The meat was distributed in 40, 60 and 80 pound packages with an establishment number of “EST. 31913”, but was subsequently repackaged into consumer sizes before being sold at a number of retailers, such as Sam’s Club, Safeway and United Grocers.

Shoppers throughout the United States have been urged to check with their local retailers to determine whether any ground beef purchased was part of the recall.

The Salmonella Newport strain of bacteria associated with this recall is typically highly resistant to many medications and often results in a high rate of food poisoning hospitalizations.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include severe abdominal cramps, vomiting, nausea, bloody diarrhea and fever, which usually begin to appear within 12 to 72 hours after consuming contaminated food.

Young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are most at risk from severe injuries, hospitalization and death due to food poisoning complications, but on rare occasions, healthy adults are also severely infected when salmonella spreads from the intestines to other parts of the body.