November 2, 2009 – Do you know what’s inside your hamburger? If you’re eating one of the 546,000 pounds of fresh ground beef, you could also be consuming E. coli.

Two deaths and 26 other people have become ill after eating ground beef that had become tainted by the potentially deadly bacteria. Pass this article along to your family and friends to make sure that they stay safe from food poisoning!

Fairbank Farms, one of the largest producers of ground beef, recalled over half a million pounds of their meat that had been distributed to stores from North Carolina to Maine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent out a recall notice on Saturday, and disclosed that the contaminated meat had been sold in many forms—from meatloaf and meatball mix to hamburger patties. So, if you’re a carnivore, and if anybody you love eats ground beef, be sure to let them know about this life-saving recall.

The packaged beef had been shipped to a variety of retail grocery shops, including Trader Joe’s, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw’s, BJ’s, Ford Brothers and Giant stores. Health officials said that the products were packaged between September 15-16 and might have been labeled with sell-by dates from September 19-28.

Check your freezer to see if you bought any of the potentially tainted beef. To identify a recalled product, click here. However, some of the beef was likely re-packaged for sale and would have different package and sell-by dates. If you find any meat involved in the recall, throw it away. Freezing meat will not kill any bacteria, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

We need food safety now. Outbreaks of E. coli have been a huge issue these past few years, and recent cases have included spinach, beef, and salad mixes.  What makes the threat of E. coli particularly frightening is that meat processing plants are not legally bound to report an outbreak. Although the USDA can see the plant’s records at any given time, meat producers are not obligated to break the news to the public. Plants could also cook the tainted meat and include it in another product.

E. coli infects about 70,000 Americans each year and kills 52 people. Annual recalls of ground beef and other beef products have dramatically risen since 2009, with at least a dozen recalls through October. Even Sir Elton John has become part of the statistic. He is currently suffering from a bout of E. coli poisoning, and is recovering in a hospital.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York wants federally mandated E. coli inspections of all ground beef.

“This is a stark reminder that food is still going straight to our kitchens and grocery stores without being properly tested to ensure its safety,” Gillibrand said. “It’s spreading too many diseases and costing too many lives…. It’s time to address the gaps in the inspection process.”

The safety of our food is an issue that should not be taken lightly. The USDA needs to hire more inspectors, food safety experts, and health care workers. Under the proper federal guidance, E. coli poisoning could become a completely preventable disease, therefore sparing thousands of Americans from avoidable and costly hospital bills.

Symptoms of an E. coli infection include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. If left untreated, it can lead to kidney failure and death.

For more information about the recall, call Fairbank Farms’ toll-free hotline at 877-546-0122 or visit its Web site at www.fairbankfarm.com or visit the USDA’s Web site.