In one of its infamous Friday night recalls, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced a 60,424 pound recall of ground beef products by National Beef Packing Co. LLC.

The Dodge City, KS-based establishment said the meat may be contaminated with E.coli O157:H7.

No illnesses have yet been associated with the bad beef.

FSIS said the contamination was discovered as a result of routine microbial testing conducted by the Ohio Department of Agriculture at a state-inspected facility that had purchased the beef for further processing.

A traceback investigation revealed that the slaughter facility’s National Beef Packing Co. products were the sole source for the positive product sample.. 

Products recalled by National Beef include:

Ground beef chubs (packaged cylinders of meat) produced on July 23, 2011 with a freeze-by date of August 12, 2011:

  • Boxes containing six 10-pound chubs of “National Beef 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck,” product code 483.
  • Boxes containing eight 5-pound chubs of “National Beef 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck,” product code 684.
  • Boxes containing twelve 3-pound chubs of “National Beef 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck,” product code 782 or 785.
  • Boxes containing six 10-pound chubs of “National Beef 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck,” product code 787. 


Ground beef chubs produced on July 25, 2011 with a freeze-by date of August 14, 2011:

  • Boxes containing eight 10-pound chubs of “National Beef 81/19 Fine Ground Beef,” product code 431.
  • Boxes containing eight 10-pound chubs of “National Beef 90/10 Fine Ground Beef,” product code 471.
  • Boxes containing six 10-pound chubs of “National Beef 86/14 Fine Ground Round,” product code 494. 


Each box and chub is labeled with the establishment number “Est. 262” within the USDA mark of inspection. 

The suspect ground beef was shipped to distributors nationwide for further processing and/or distribution. It is important to note that the products listed above may have been repackaged into consumer-size packages and sold under different retail brand names. 

When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and in the most severe cases, kidney failure. 

Friday nights have proven to be one of the most popular times for FSIS to announce the recall of meat and poultry products.