After a series of earlier recalls, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has now recalled all ground beef from New Food Classics ( Establishment 761) that was processed between July 1, 2011 and Feb. 15, 2012 because it may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
One person was reportedly sickened after eating meat that had been processed in October.
New Food Classics went into receivership last month, according to the Toronto Star. The company packaged burgers and steakettes under many brand names including Best Value, Loblaws’ no name and no name Club Pack, Country Morning and Grillhouse.
According to the court filing, the Saskatchewan-based company learned February 15 that its frozen ground beef was linked to a case of E. coli O157:H7 illness and three days later recalled 3,800 cases of frozen burgers. Another 767 cases were recalled on February 22.
All together, about 1.25 million cases of ground beef products have been taken off the market.
CFIA, in a news release this weekend, warned the public not to consume the company’s frozen ground beef products, and also warned all retailers, distributors and restaurants not to sell, serve or use these ground beef products.
The agency said the recalled beef can be identified by the Establishment number (EST) 761 on the packages, cartons or cases and by one of the following codes:
– a Best Before date from BB 2012 JA 01 up to and including to BB 2013 FE 15;
– production code with a format of 11 JL 01 up to and including 12 FE 15;
– a 5 digit lot code where the last four digits are 1831 or greater.
The beef was distributed nationally in Canada.
For more information call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday).