Beef recall expands into Nebraska
Kroger Co. has expanded a voluntary recall of some ground beef products beyond stores in Michigan and parts of Ohio to include stores in 20 states, including Nebraska.
Kroger owns Baker’s stores in Omaha, Food 4 Less in Fremont and Kwik Shop stores across Nebraska.
Kroger wants customers to check their freezers for items with sell-by dates May 17-June 4, which were subject to recall earlier but haven’t been sold since June 4, said spokeswoman Sheila Lowrie. Another lot of prepackaged vacuum-sealed ground beef with sell-by dates July 11 through 21, branded Private Selection Natural Ground Beef, is being recalled as a precaution, she said.
Omaha-based Nebraska Beef Ltd. has recalled from wholesalers and other processing companies nearly 532,000 pounds of ground beef produced on five dates between May 16 and June 24.
Kroger said Wednesday that as a precaution it had removed from stores all ground beef supplied by Nebraska Beef marked with sell by dates of May 21 or later.
“Ground beef in stores today comes from other suppliers not involved in the recall,” Kroger spokeswoman Meghan Glynn said Wednesday.
The Cincinnati-based grocery company, the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer, initiated the recall June 25 for some of its stores in other states.
The government classified the health risk as “high” for anyone consuming the suspect meat, but none of it reached local retailers, according to a spokesman for Nebraska Beef.
Investigators traced the meat to Nebraska Beef after 35 people in Ohio and Michigan became ill. Kroger already recalled beef it sold at stores in those states.
Some of it was sent to “establishments in Nebraska for further processing,” according to the alert published by the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
William Lamson, an Omaha attorney and corporate counsel to Nebraska Beef, said the possibilities of the suspect product reaching Nebraska consumers were “almost none.”
“The best information I have is that none of the beef being recalled was processed for retail in Nebraska or Council Bluffs,” he said Tuesday, before the Kroger recall was expanded to include all product from Nebraska Beef.
Kroger is notifying customers about the expanded recall by placing signs in stores in meat departments. It also is using its register receipt notification system and a loyalty card tracking system.
Symptoms of E. coli infection can include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Most people recover within 5 to 7 days.
Details about all the ground beef being recalled is available online at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service site, www.fsis.usda.gov.
Consumers with questions about the recall should contact Nebraska Beef Vice President of Administration James Timmerman at 402-733-0456, Kroger toll-free at (800) 632-6900 or online at www.kroger.com/recalls.
Kroger owns Baker’s stores in Omaha, Food 4 Less in Fremont and Kwik Shop stores across Nebraska.
Kroger wants customers to check their freezers for items with sell-by dates May 17-June 4, which were subject to recall earlier but haven’t been sold since June 4, said spokeswoman Sheila Lowrie. Another lot of prepackaged vacuum-sealed ground beef with sell-by dates July 11 through 21, branded Private Selection Natural Ground Beef, is being recalled as a precaution, she said.
Omaha-based Nebraska Beef Ltd. has recalled from wholesalers and other processing companies nearly 532,000 pounds of ground beef produced on five dates between May 16 and June 24.
Kroger said Wednesday that as a precaution it had removed from stores all ground beef supplied by Nebraska Beef marked with sell by dates of May 21 or later.
“Ground beef in stores today comes from other suppliers not involved in the recall,” Kroger spokeswoman Meghan Glynn said Wednesday.
The Cincinnati-based grocery company, the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer, initiated the recall June 25 for some of its stores in other states.
The government classified the health risk as “high” for anyone consuming the suspect meat, but none of it reached local retailers, according to a spokesman for Nebraska Beef.
Investigators traced the meat to Nebraska Beef after 35 people in Ohio and Michigan became ill. Kroger already recalled beef it sold at stores in those states.
Some of it was sent to “establishments in Nebraska for further processing,” according to the alert published by the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
William Lamson, an Omaha attorney and corporate counsel to Nebraska Beef, said the possibilities of the suspect product reaching Nebraska consumers were “almost none.”
“The best information I have is that none of the beef being recalled was processed for retail in Nebraska or Council Bluffs,” he said Tuesday, before the Kroger recall was expanded to include all product from Nebraska Beef.
Kroger is notifying customers about the expanded recall by placing signs in stores in meat departments. It also is using its register receipt notification system and a loyalty card tracking system.
Symptoms of E. coli infection can include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Most people recover within 5 to 7 days.
Details about all the ground beef being recalled is available online at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service site, www.fsis.usda.gov.
Consumers with questions about the recall should contact Nebraska Beef Vice President of Administration James Timmerman at 402-733-0456, Kroger toll-free at (800) 632-6900 or online at www.kroger.com/recalls.
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