A national recall on ground beef has been issued because of possible E. coli contamination.
Produced by an XL Foods plant in Edmonton, various ground beef products were distributed to Safeway, Walmart and Costco. On Sept. 17 the recall was expanded to include products sold by Superstore, Extra Foods, No Frills, Real Canadian Wholesale Club, Shop Easy, SuperValu, Superstore,
Westfair, Your Independent Grocer, Sobey’s/IGA
The initial voluntary recall was made Sept. 16 and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued an alert to consumers not to eat, sell or serve the products because they could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
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Consumption of E. coli contaminated food can cause severe abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea or kidney failure. People may also die.
The meat may not look or smell bad, and so far no illnesses have been reported.
The CFIA does not know which specific stores might have received the product, which was packed between Aug. 12 and Sept. 13, said Garfield Balsom, acting national manager of the office of recall and food safety.
“Our advice is to return to the point of sale and enquire whether that product is part of the recall,” he said Sept. 17.
“If you are not sure about a product, then don’t consume it.”
The CFIA doesn’t not know how much beef may have been affected. Lot numbers and UPC codes on meat labels are included in a CFIA list on its website.
The complete list of products can be found at: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2012/20120916e.shtml
For more information, call the CFIA toll free at 800-442-2342 or 800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday).
