U.S. ground beef recall expands

Washington -- A recall of tainted ground beef is expanded to include all products used to make approximately 5.3 million pounds of ground beef, U.S. federal officials said.

The E. coli-contaminated ground beef was manufactured between May 16 and June 26 by Nebraska Beef Limited in Omaha, the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a release.

The June 30 recall was expanded based on epidemiological and trace-back investigations of the food-borne illness outbreak, the agency said.

FSIS concluded production practices used by Nebraska Beef, Ltd. did not effectively control E. coli in beef products intended for grinding, and unsanitary conditions may have resulted.

The components were distributed for reprocessing or wholesaling in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. The products subject to recall likely won't have the "EST 19336" establishment number on items sold directly to consumers, the FSIS said.

Consumers with questions can contact the company at 402-733-0456. A complete listing of the recalled products is available at

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_022_2008_Release/index.asp.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.