Ground meat recalled in California, Minnesota

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. meat safety officials on Wednesday announced two recalls of ground beef in California and Minnesota because the meat may contain the disease-causing E.coli O157:H7 bacteria.

Rochester Meat Co., a Minnesota firm, was voluntarily recalling about 30,000 pounds of frozen ground beef patties after reports of illnesses, officials said. Consumers were urged to return the meat to the store.

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The products affected by the recall were 1/4- and 1/3-pound portions of "SIMEK's" brand frozen patties, packaged in 6- and 10-pound boxes for bulk sale, and each carrying a manufacturing lot number beginning with "0162."

Also being recalled were 2-pound bags of "Lean Beef Patties" in 1/4-pound portions, packaged six bags to each 12-pound box.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly pathogen that can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall late on Wednesday, saying that reported illnesses had prompted state food safety officials to test samples of the ground beef patties.

Minnesota officials then notified the company that they had linked three illnesses to a package of ground beef patties produced by the firm, which quickly decided to recall the products.

In California, a Safeway supermarket in Davis, was voluntarily recalling about 170 lbs (77.3 kg) of ground beef that may contain E. coli, U.S. meat safety officials said earlier Wednesday.

The problem was discovered through routine Agriculture Department testing. No illnesses have been reported. Consumers were encouraged to return the meat to the store.

Involved in the recall were packages of ground beef produced on August 29 for sale at the store at 1435 W. Covell Blvd. The packages, weighing from 0.75 to 3.5 lbs, were sold under the Safeway label as "LEANEST GROUND BEEF 93% LEAN," "SUPER LEAN GROUND BEEF 90% LEAN," "LEAN GROUND BEEF 80% LEAN" and "LEAN GR BEEF MARKET 80% LEAN."

Each carried a sell-by date of "Aug 30, 00."

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