OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska Beef Ltd. is recalling nearly 532,000 pounds of ground beef — some of it in Colorado — that was produced in the past two months because the meat has been linked to an outbreak of E. coli illnesses in Michigan and Ohio.
King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah were pulling the ground beef from store shelves and freezers late Tuesday and company officials warned consumers to do the same.
“We are participating in the voluntary recall of possible E. coli-tainted ground beef,” spokesman Trail Daugherty said.
It was unclear how much of the tainted product reached the 142 King Soopers and City Market stores in the Rocky Mountain region, though Daugherty described it as “a lot.”
The affected ground beef has “use by” dates from May 31 to July 3, Daugherty said, and was sold only at each store’s full-service counter — where customers purchase items in custom quantities.
Also affected are one-pound “chubs” of the stores’ Private Selection 91 percent lean natural ground beef. It was sold in the self-service refrigerators and had the same expiration dates.
The federal government said late Monday that some of the Omaha-based company’s beef was sold mostly by grocer Kroger Co., and investigators traced the meat to Nebraska Beef after 38 people in Ohio and Michigan became ill. Kroger already recalled beef it sold in those states.
Beef involved in the recall also went to businesses in Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Officials with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment are monitoring the recall, though no reports of illnesses have occurred here, they said.
Processing plants mix and grind beef into a variety of products, including ground beef. It is then sent to stores where additional mixing and grinding can occur.
Daugherty said stores received the tainted meat directly from the Nebraska supplier and none of the recalled product was processed at the company’s large facility in Denver.
Company officials on Tuesday ordered all stores to remove ground beef from full-service counters and any storage rooms and to sanitize all affected equipment.
Customers were urged to check their freezers and return recalled product to the store for a refund or replacement.
Kroger is the parent company of King Soopers and City Market stores.
