Two Island County residents were among those sickened by an outbreak of E. coli in ground beef.
In all, six people in Washington and two people in Oregon fell ill due to E. coli in late July and the first week of August. The Washington cases included one child and five adults in King, Island and Clallam counties. Two people were hospitalized and have since recovered.
An alert was ordered by the U.S. Food Safety Inspection Service for products sold under the brand name “Northwest Finest.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health, the tainted beef was available for sale at Safeway, QFC and Fred Meyer locations in Washington, though it may have been sold at other stores as well.
The products subject to this public health alert include:
l 16-ounce packages of “Northwest Finest 7% fat, natural ground beef.” The label bears a UPC code of 752907 600127.
l 16-ounce packages of “Northwest Finest 10% FAT, Organic ground beef. No UPC code is available.
Each package also bears the establishment number “Est. 965” inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture mark of inspection as well as a sell-by date between August 1 and August 11.
The ground beef products were produced on various dates between July 19 and July 30 and distributed in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Roger Case, health officer for Island County, said grocery stores have probably pulled the beef already, but he cautions people to check their freezers for any ground beef that may have purchased in the past. He said freezing doesn’t kill the bacteria — heat does that.
“The only thing that kills E. coli is cooking above 160 degrees,” he said.
Case said the two Island County residents sickened by the E. coli were not hospitalized, but were each evaluated in a physician’s office. He believes they are both adults, but he didn’t have any other information about them, including where they may have purchased the ground beef.
Case said the particular strain, E. coli O157, is very dangerous and can even cause death in children. It causes mild to severe intestinal illness and may cause serious kidney complications. Symptoms include diarrhea which may contain blood, as well as abdominal cramping and vomiting.
“The important message is that people need to cook their food,” he said. “If people thoroughly cook their food, there’s no reason to be afraid.”
In the case of beef, he said thoroughly cooking means medium to medium-well done. And that means no pink.
Especially with the barbecue-prone Labor Day weekend upon us, the Department of Health offers these important safety tips:
l Use a thermometer to check the cooking temperature. Looking for a brown color inside a hamburger is not a reliable way of making sure it is done.
l Carefully wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after touching raw hamburger or other raw meat.
l Do not let raw meat juices touch other foods or work surfaces. When raw meat juices do get on cutting boards or countertops, they must be thoroughly washed to prevent spreading bacteria around the kitchen. Also, do not slice vegetables, fruits or other foods that will be eaten raw with the same knife used to cut raw meat unless the knife has been thoroughly cleaned.
