60 Tons Of Beef Potentially Contaminated With Rare E. Coli Bacteria, Food And Drug Supervisory Agency Issues Warning

Beef illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Myrabella)

JAKARTA - The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning that beef products from facilities in New Jersey may have been contaminated with the rare form of E. Coli bacteria.

Regular food safety inspections at Lakeside Refrigerated Services, Swedesboro, New Jersey, south Philadelphia, found E. coli O103 producing Shiga non-O157 toxin, a variant of the bacterium that most labs have not tested, according to the FDA.

According to Sputnik News, April 28, beef products potentially exposed to bacteria were produced between February 1 and April 8 this year. That amounts to around 120,872 pounds of ground beef, or about 60 tons.

Product codes and labels have been published on the US Department of Agriculture website and consumers are urged to check their freezers for these products. The FDA says there have been no reported infections related to meat. Separately, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), symptoms from eating contaminated meat can begin between 2 and 8 days after consumption and generally cause severe stomach cramps, frequent bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Sometimes it also causes fever.

Most infections are mild and people tend to recover in 5 to 7 days. However, more serious illness can occur, including about 5-10 percent of cases who develop Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), which damages the kidneys and can cause blood clots. HUS carries a risk of death.

According to the CDC, E. coli causes about 265,000 infections each year in the United States, with about 100 deaths from about 48 million total foodborne illnesses each year, leading to a total of 3,000 deaths.