An outbreak of E. coli in the American Northeast has sickened more than two dozen people and has been linked to two deaths so far, health officials say. The outbreak has been traced to ground meat and burger patties from Fairbank Farms in New York, which issued a recall of more than 500,000 pounds of meat products over the weekend, though the link to the illness has not be confirmed.

The meat was sold in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia at stores such as Trader Joe’s, Wild Harvest, Price Chopper and Shaw’s. The products were packaged in September and are now between 23 and 32 days past their sell by dates, so the products should no longer be in stores.

The worry, however, is that customers who have the meat in their freezers will eat it, putting themselves at risk of getting sick. Cooking meat until it’s done kills E. coli, but there’s always a risk of contamination from juices that get on cutting boards or utensils that then contaminate other foods.

Ground beef safety

With this news of yet another E. coli outbreak linked to beef, it seems appropriate to take a look at the Ground Beef and Food Safety fact sheet from the United States Department of Agriculture.

Here you’ll learn such fun facts as that beef fat can be added to products marketed as hamburger, but not those labeled ground beef. Either way, 30 percent fat is the maximum, and while they can have seasonings added, they shouldn’t have water, binders or phosphates added.

The department notes that the sell by date is a rule of thumb for retailers to know when meat is at its freshest, but it’s not always a good guide for customers, who should aim to consume or freeze meat within two days of bringing it home, regardless of the date, because it may not have been stored properly throughout its life.

Products are not required to have sell by dates by law, but packages of raw or partially cooked meat and poultry should have safe handling instructions and country of origin labels.

The danger zone for growth of E. coli and other potentially harmful pathogens — salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus are other potential baddies found in meat — is between 40 and 140 degrees, so make sure you always store meat, cooked or raw, below 40 degrees and cook it to an internal temperature of 160 degrees to ensure all pathogens have been destroyed.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 and is filed under Food miscellaneous, Food safety. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.