The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is expanding the Public Health Alert for XL Foods to include all beef and beef products produced on August 24, 27, 28, 29, and September 5, 2012. The products are considered adulterated with E. coli 0157:H7 and should be returned to the place of purchase or destroyed. The foods subject to recall include, but are not limited to, steaks, roasts, mechanically tenderized steaks and roasts, and ground beef. You can find the retail distribution list at the FSIS site.
According to the statement, FSIS “has reason to believe that beef from cattle slaughtered during the period associated with the recall was produced under insanitary conditions that resulted in a high event period (a period when the trim from carcasses exhibited an unusually high frequency of positive findings for the possible presence of E. coli 0157:H7).” FSIS testing of raw boneless beef trim from XL Foods, Establishment 038, was confirmed positive for E. coli 0157:H7 on September 3, 2012.
The CFIA has announced a recall of XL Foods products and has temporarily closed the facility, since the government has found corrective action was not taken to fix the problem. The Canadian recall was recently expanded for an eighth time to include products available for sale from August 24 through September 25, 2012. And there is an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 food poisoning in Alberta that is linked to mechanically tenderized steaks sold at Costco and produced by XL Foods.
