More U.S. beef is being recalled because it may be contaminated with salmonella.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a unit of Brazil’s JBS is now recalling a total of more than 12 million pounds of raw beef that was shipped around the country. JBS Tolleson in Arizona already recalled about 7 million pounds of beef in October.
Health officials say their investigation identified additional products with the USDA inspection number “EST. 267.” The products were packaged between late July and September. The USDA says any products still in people’s freezers should be thrown away.
The following products are subject to recall: Products List (PDF); Product Labels (PDF only).
These items were shipped to a retail locations and institutions nationwide.
Currently the USDA has declared this a Class I Recall, noting the health risk is high.
After FSIS Recall 085-2018 on Oct. 4, 2018, USDA, CDC, and state public health and agriculture partners continued to investigate the outbreak of Salmonella Newport illnesses.
The epidemiological investigation has identified 246 confirmed case-patients from 26 states with illness onset dates ranging from July 26 to Sept. 7, 2018. An additional 16 case-patients have provided receipts or shopper card numbers for the product traceback investigations.
Specific traceback for three case-patients have identified JBS Tolleson, Inc., EST. 267 ground beef products that were not part of the Oct. 4 recall.
Staying safe
In general the USDA and their public health partners, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state public health officials, said no one should be eating partially cooked or raw meat and that salmonella is prevalent and can be present in raw poultry or meat.
They said no raw poultry or meat is sterile so officials recommend always cooking the meat to a safe internal temperature as the cooking process kills the salmonella.
Health officials urge all consumers to safely prepare their raw meat products, including fresh and frozen, and only consume ground beef that has been cooked to a temperature of 160°F.
Other cuts of beef should be cooked to a temperature of 145 °F and allowed to rest for at least 3 minutes.
The only way to confirm that ground beef or other cuts of beef are cooked to a temperature high enough to kill harmful bacteria is to use a food thermometer that measures internal temperature.
Consumers with questions regarding the recall can contact the JBS USA Consumer Hotline at 800-727-2333.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
