The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said today that this week’s recall of King Soopers ground beef is the first time the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a beef recall because of salmonella.
The recall includes 466,236 pounds of ground-beef products sold between May 23 and June 23 and is labeled “EST. 6250” on the front of the package.
The meat was sold retail in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, according to the USDA.
Fourteen Coloradans have been sickened, with three cases in Boulder County, four cases in Jefferson County, two each in Mesa and Routt counties, and one each in Denver, Douglas, and Larimer counties. Six people have been hospitalized.
Though salmonella is a common bacteria in raw meat, this particular strain is drug-resistent, which may have prompted the federal action, said Alicia Cronquist, an epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.
She said that the rule of thumb is that for each confirmed case of salmonella, 38 others go unreported because they are untreated stomach ailments or physicians fail to test for it, Cronquist said.
“Potentially, more than 500 people in this state have become ill, and that’s a significant outbreak,” she said.
Federal inspectors are urging King Soopers’ customers to check their freezers for beef that might be included in the recall.
King Soopers has established a recall hotline, 1-800-632-6900.
Salmonellosis is one of the most common food-related illnesses, but infections can be life-threatening for those with weak immune systems, such as babies, the elderly, chemotherapy patients or people with HIV, according to the USDA.
The most common effects are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. Those with the illness also can experience chills, headache, nausea and vomiting. Symptoms can last up to seven days, the USDA said.
