Beef Recall for Salmonella Announced Today

Beef Packers, Inc., a Fresno, California, establishment, is recalling approximately 825,769 pounds of ground beef products that may be linked to an outbreak of salmonellosis, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The ground beef products were produced on various dates ranging from 5 Jun 2009 through 23 Jun 2009 and bear the establishment number "EST. 31913" printed on the case code labels. The ground beef products were distributed to retail distribution centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Utah. Because these products were repackaged into consumer-size packages and sold under different retail brand names, consumers should check with their local retailer to determine whether they may have purchased any of the products subject to recall.

Please use the following precautions when handling meat:

Wash hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw meat and poultry. Also wash cutting boards, dishes and utensils with hot soapy water. Clean up spills right away.

Keep raw meat, fish, and poultry away from other food that will not be cooked. Use separate cutting boards for raw meat, poultry, and egg products and cooked foods.

Cook raw meat and poultry to safe internal temperatures before eating. The safe internal temperature for meat such as beef and pork is 160 deg F [71 deg C], and 165 deg F [74 deg C] for poultry, as determined with a food thermometer.

Refrigerate raw meat and poultry within 2 hours after purchase (1 hour if temperatures exceed 90 deg F [32 deg C]). Refrigerate cooked meat and poultry within 2 hours after cooking.

Please visit http://tinyurl.com/nc6unf for the full story on this recall.