A&P, Publix Recall Beef Products on E.coli Scare
NEW YORK - Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. on Friday began a voluntary recall of some fresh ground beef products after learning that an earlier recall by Emmpak Foods Inc.'s Peck Meats had been expanded to its stores.
A day earlier, Publix Super Market Stores also announced a recall of similar beef products supplied by Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Emmpak Foods to its stores in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and central and south Florida.
Meat processor Emmpak Foods, owned by Cargill Inc., on Thursday had expanded its voluntary recall of some products to 2.8 million pounds of beef. Cargill had initiated a recall of about 400,000 pounds of beef on Sept. 30 after U.S. Agriculture Department health officials and the state of Minnesota discovered food-borne illness linked with an E. coli outbreak.
The USDA on Friday said contaminated meat from Emmpak Foods has sickened 57 people, and the department is investigating 27 more cases in Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts for links to tainted Emmpak meat.
A&P?s recall, which applies to packages of ground meat labeled as ground beef, ground hamburger, ground chuck, ground sirloin, ground round, lean ground beef, hamburger patties and meatloaf, affected its stores trading under the following banners: A&P, Waldbaum's, Farmer Jack, Kohl's, Super Fresh, The Food Emporium and Sav-A-Center. The targeted states are Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.
Steve Cohen, spokesman for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said one Emmpak Foods meat processing plant has now been shut down as a result of the E.coli 0157:H7 scare.
"We continue to have a scientific and technical team that is looking at all the plants owned by Emmpak Foods. The expansion of the recall and the shut down of the one plant were two immediate steps that were taken."
A day earlier, Publix Super Market Stores also announced a recall of similar beef products supplied by Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Emmpak Foods to its stores in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and central and south Florida.
Meat processor Emmpak Foods, owned by Cargill Inc., on Thursday had expanded its voluntary recall of some products to 2.8 million pounds of beef. Cargill had initiated a recall of about 400,000 pounds of beef on Sept. 30 after U.S. Agriculture Department health officials and the state of Minnesota discovered food-borne illness linked with an E. coli outbreak.
The USDA on Friday said contaminated meat from Emmpak Foods has sickened 57 people, and the department is investigating 27 more cases in Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts for links to tainted Emmpak meat.
A&P?s recall, which applies to packages of ground meat labeled as ground beef, ground hamburger, ground chuck, ground sirloin, ground round, lean ground beef, hamburger patties and meatloaf, affected its stores trading under the following banners: A&P, Waldbaum's, Farmer Jack, Kohl's, Super Fresh, The Food Emporium and Sav-A-Center. The targeted states are Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.
Steve Cohen, spokesman for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said one Emmpak Foods meat processing plant has now been shut down as a result of the E.coli 0157:H7 scare.
"We continue to have a scientific and technical team that is looking at all the plants owned by Emmpak Foods. The expansion of the recall and the shut down of the one plant were two immediate steps that were taken."