Here is a history of E. coli Outbreaks:

• 1993 and 2000 Sizzler outbreak linked to Cargill/Excel

• 2001 Cargill/Excell Linked to Frozen Beef E. coli

• 2002 Cargill/Emmpak “fresh” ground meat linked to E. coli

A bit more history about Cargill – In 1995 Cargill announced the “End of E. coli” in the pages of the New York Times. Now, 12 years later it recalled nearly 2,000,000 pounds of hamburger (that is nearly enough to give every New Yorker a quarter pounder) in October and November recalls. 

Cargill Ground Beef Sold at Sam’s Club Stores 2007 – Forty-seven were sickened in a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 began in August and led to the eventual recall of 845,000 pounds of Cargill ground beef. In early October, Minnesota health department officials noticed a cluster of three E. coli O157:H7 cases with the same pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) genetic pattern. Interviews with the case-patients found a common exposure of Cargill hamburger. Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Tennessee also had victims with matching PFGE patterns and exposure to Cargill hamburger. Sam’s Club stores were a major purchaser of the Cargill frozen hamburgers.