On January 5, Mark’s Quality Meats, Inc. of Detroit, Michigan, recalled over 13,000 pounds of ground beef and steak products that were produced in late December after E. coli contamination was identified through lab testing. In announcing the recall, the Food Safety and Inspection Service stated that no illnesses have been reported in connection with the recall. According to the Detroit Free Press:
Michael Layne, a spokesman for Mark’s Quality Meats, said some of the meat has been consumed, but the products that weren’t have been removed from the restaurants, brought back to the company’s facility and destroyed. About 200 restaurants had received meat from the company, he said.
Meanwhile, public health officials are investigating to determine the source of Salmonella outbreaks in Pennsylvania and Montana. The Pennsylvania outbreak has been traced to foods prepared by a restaurant, and the Montana outbreak is still under investigation, although the strain of Salmonella isolated from Montana patients is likely linked to the strain causing illness in Texas and Pennsylvania.