LAKELAND, Fla. -- If you bought ground beef products from Publix, check your freezer. Their supermarket issued a voluntary recall because of possible E. coli contamination.
Publix says the products that may be affected were sold between June 25 and July 31 at stores in the following counties: Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Flagler, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Lucie, Sumter and Volusia.
Products sold at Florida Publix stores outside of the ones in the counties listed above were not affected. And the store says products currently for sale weren’t, either.
An investigation began after 18 people, predominantly from Florida, became ill between July 5 and July 25, according to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. All consumed ground chuck products purchased at various Publix stores and supplied by an as yet undetermined source, the service says.
The ground chuck products in question include the following:
- Ground Chuck
- Ground Chuck Burgers
- Gourmet Burgers (Jalapeno & Cheddar, Pimento & Cheese, Bacon & Cheddar, Bacon & Fried Onion, Blue Cheese, and Swiss & Mushroom)
- Seasoned Ground Chuck Burgers (Badia, Mesquite, Montreal, and Steakhouse)
- Meatballs (Bacon & Cheddar, Bacon & Fried Onion, Blue Cheese, Jalapeno & Cheddar, Swiss & Mushroom, and Spanish)
- Meatloaf (Seasoned and Grillers)
- Slider (Bacon & Cheddar, Bacon & Fried Onion, Ground Chuck, Blue Cheese, Jalapeno & Cheddar, and Swiss & Mushroom)
- Stuffed Peppers
If you bought one of the above products, you can return it for a full refund. For additional questions, call the Publix customer care line at 1-800-242-1227.
Consumption of products containing E. coli can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
We had numerous people ask why it took so long for the recall to come out so we asked that the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Here’s their response:
Question: Why are we learning about a recall 2 months after the fact?
Proposed Response: There are many steps to consider when investigating an illness outbreak and tracing the outbreak back to a source. Once sick people visit their doctor, the doctor will conduct tests to identify any foodborne illness, and then report that information to the state. Next, state public health officials and CDC work to understand the epidemiology of the outbreak and identify possible sources. These steps all take time because the agencies are gathering information and data on the illness so they can make definitive to links to the source of the illness before a recall can be conducted. Here is a link describing how those investigations unfold: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/investigating-outbreaks/investigations/index.html.
The Centers for Disease Control and state health partners notified the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) an investigation of E. coli O26 illnesses on Aug. 16, 2018. Since then, the agency, CDC, and state public health partners determined that raw ground beef was the probable source of the reported illnesses. In order to protect the public’s health, FSIS and Publix decided to recall ground beef chuck products (purchased from June 25, 2018 to July 31, 2018) to prevent further foodborne illness.
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