A four-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections that sickened 12 people and was associated with the May 19 recall of 1.8 million pounds of ground beef from Wolverine Packing Company appears to be over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday. The illnesses all began between April 22 and May 2, 2014, and while the infections did not cause any deaths or the life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), seven people were hospitalized. The ill persons ranged in age from 16 to 46, with the median age being 25. Michigan and Ohio each reported five cases, and Massachusetts and Missouri each had one. “Epidemiologic and traceback investigations conducted by local, state, and federal officials indicated that contaminated ground beef produced by Wolverine Packing Company was the likely source of this outbreak of STEC O157:H7 infections,” CDC’s final report states. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) began investigating the outbreak on May 8 with the first illness report, according to Brian Ronholm, USDA’s acting under secretary for food safety. He commented on the Detroit, MI, company’s recall in Food Safety News on May 22, three days after the recall was initiated. The recalled ground beef was shipped to distributors for retail and restaurant use nationwide. There was no distribution of the products to the U.S. Department of Defense, the National School Lunch Program, or catalog/Internet sales. The use-by date on the recalled ground beef has passed, but the product is often frozen for later use. FSIS has issued a retail list showing outlets where the product may have been purchased for take-home use. The agency did not disclose the names of restaurants that purchased the recalled beef.