April 30, 1998 - IBP Recalls Ground Beef Found with E. coli O157:H7

by Dan Murphy

IBP, Inc., is voluntarily recalling all ground beef produced April 14 at its Joslin, Ill., beef plant, according to a statement from the American Meat Institute.

Officials of the Dakota City, Neb.-based company confirmed the recall to MM&T but were unable to provide details late Wednesday afternoon.

According to information supplied by AMI, a wholesale package of ground beef from the Joslin plant's April 14 production was shipped to a foodservice operation, The package was sampled by officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and found to be positive for E. coli O157:H7. Total production for that day was 282,128 pounds, the company said.

IBP notified about 50 retail and foodservice customers nationwide who purchased the ground beef from the production lot in question and asked them to return the product.

The product carries the code 245J98104. No known illnesses have been associated with the product, AMI said.

According to USDA, the average size of a meat or poultry recall during the past five years is 245,560 pounds. There have been nearly 200 such recalls since 193, according to department figures.

This article reprinted with permission from Meat Marketing & Technology.

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