Oklahoma company voluntarily recalls beef products; could be contaminated with E. coli

Oklahoma company voluntarily recalls beef products

OWASSO, Okla. — An Oklahoma-based company is voluntarily recalling about 248,000 pounds of beef it says might be contaminated with a strain of E. coli bacteria.

National Steak and Poultry and the U.S. Agriculture Department announced the recall on Thursday. The company says on its Web site the beef products “could potentially be implicated in an outbreak” of illnesses related to E. coli.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service became aware of the problem while investigating a cluster of illnesses and determined there is an association between non-intact steaks and illnesses in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington.

The company says the recall is the first in its 30-year history.

The E. coli strain is one that has caused large-scale outbreaks of life-threatening illness via contaminated food and water.