PORTLAND, Ore. — Sorry, New Seasons shoppers: you won't be able to get ground beef at any of their stores for a while.
They found some of their meat is contaminated with E. coli and it's gotten multiple people sick.
Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Agriculture are trying to figure out what caused the outbreak.
New Seasons initially put out a recall notice on November 9 and expanded it Thursday after tests showed some beef sold last week was contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
A fourth person got sick with E. coli after eating their ground beef. Thankfully all four people have recovered.
New Seasons was a popular place on a Friday afternoon, but not a lot of regulars had heard the news. Fortunately no one our KGW crew spoke with was planning on buying any ground beef and they hadn't bought any at new seasons in the last month.
Signs posted at the meat counter explain what's happening: one says "out of an abundance of caution they're pausing production and sale of the products” in all stores.
The recall applies to ground beef with a "packed on" date of October 19 to November 8 and sell by dates from October 23 to November 11.
If you bought any ground beef in that time frame the company wants you to return it for a full refund.
"How did the meat get out into the public, why was it out there for so long. That's concerning,” Seattle-based food-borne illness attorney Bill Marler said. “Something happened here where the test failed or it was a false negative and it got out into the marketplace.”
Marler says cases of E. coli linked to meat don't hit his desk nearly as much as they used to – and definitely not as much as E. coli linked to fruits and vegetables.
“It's a fecal bacteria, usually found in the guts of cows. Doesn't get cows sick, but it really does a number on us,” Marler said.
Marler is impressed OHA figured out the common denominator in the outbreak with just a few cases.
“Somebody will buy a couple pounds and they’ll cut it and put half of it in their freezer. They may not get sick on the first one but the product in their freezer may still be contaminated,” Marler said, “People need to pay attention to the products they’ve purchased at new seasons over the last 30, 60 days and if they have that product in their freezer they should get rid of it.”
This strain of E. coli causes diarrhea, often with blood. Most people can fully recover from it in a week but some aren't so lucky; some people develop a form of kidney failure.
Marler says this strain of e. Coli sickens about 75,000 Americans every year. His best tip to kill bacteria: cook your ground beef all the way through to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.