Beef Packers Salmonella Ground Beef Outbreak in Arizona
State and federal health officials have associated an Arizona ground beef Salmonella outbreak with fresh hamburger produced by Beef Packers Inc. of Fresno, California.
It is the second time this year that Cargill-owned Beef Packers has been tied to a ground beef Salmonella outbreak. The first one, announced in early August, sickened 39 people in 11 states and led to the recall of 825,769 pounds of ground beef.
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced late Friday the latest recall of 22,723 pounds of fresh ground beef distributed in Arizona through various retailers. The batch of tainted ground beef was made September 23, 2009, and all retail packages -- regardless of the store -- bear the USDA establishment number of EST 31913 on the USDA mark of inspection.
Beef Packers sold the meat in 60-pound cases for repacking. The cases were marked "use/freeze by 10/11/09.''
So far, two cases of Salmonellosis in Arizona have been associated with the ground beef and the investigation is continuing.
The Arizona Department of Health Services notified FSIS of the situation and a joint investigation, including a traceback investigation that determined there is an association between the fresh ground beef products made by Cargill's Beef Packers plant in Fresno and two (2) illnesses reported in Arizona. The Salmonella Newport strain was isolated both from the patients and from ground beef produced by Est. 31913. They were also linked by their uncommon pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern found in PulseNet, a national network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
If you or a loved one has become ill after eating ground beef from USDA plant number 31913, see a physician immediately. For answers to legal questions, call a Salmonella lawyer at Pritzker Olsen Attorneys. We are a national food safety law firm currently representing a victim of the previous Beef Packers ground beef Salmonella outbreak.
We have collected millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning and are one of the few law firms in the country specializing in food poisoning litigation. Call our office at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact and information form on the side of this web page.
Our firm is dedicated to the prevention of foodborne illness outbreaks and we are actively supporting attempts in Congress to strengthen food safety laws in this country that are badly outdated. Salmonella infection is not to be taken lightly. It can be deadly, especially if contracted by a young child or an elderly person. And there are long-term health consequences that many people don't realize until a family member is victimized.
