Ground beef E. coli health alert

(WTAJ) – A national health alert has been issued regarding ground beef products in Greater Omaha that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, a particular strain of Escherichia coli known to cause serious intestinal infections in humans .

The affected raw ground beef items were produced and packaged on March 28, 2024, with a “Use/Freeze By” date of April 22, 2024 and “EST.960A” inside the USDA mark of inspection .

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the ground beef was shipped to restaurants and retail outlets across the country.

FSIS has issued a health alert for the following products:

Labels for these products can be found on the FSIS website.

Because the affected products are no longer for sale, FSIS said no recall has been requested. Instead, the agency issued a health alert in case consumers had ground beef in their freezers.

If you have any of the meat products listed above, FSIS does not recommend consuming them. Instead, they should be thrown away or returned to where you purchased them.

No illnesses related to this health alert have been confirmed, but if you feel unwell after consuming ground beef, you should contact a health care professional.

E. coli, a potentially deadly bacteria, can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Symptoms usually appear within three to four days after eating an affected food and can last about a week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Severe cases of E. coli are more common in children under 5 and older adults, but anyone experiencing these symptoms should seek emergency medical attention immediately.

In some severe cases, a patient may develop kidney failure, notes the CDC.

If you have any questions about the health alert, FSIS urges you to contact Gina Adami, Greater Omaha Packing Co., Inc. representative, at 402-575-4702 or gadami@gmail.com.

If you have questions about food safety, you can call the USDA’s toll-free Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or email a question to MPHotline @usda.gov. You can access the Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System online to report a problem with a meat, poultry or egg product.