National Steak and Poultry E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak
E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in six states - Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington - were determined by investigators from the CDC and state and local health departments to be linked to meat products from National Steak and Poultry. The Owasso, OK company initiated a Christmas Eve recall of approximately 248,000 pounds of beef products due to potential E. coli contamination. The company shipped products to restaurants - primarily to the Moe’s, Carino’s Italian Grill, and KRM restaurants (KRM Restaurant Group operates Jeremiah Johnson’s and nine locations of the 54th Street Grill), although other locations may have received the meat.
On January 6, the CDC released information on the 21 persons infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7. The number of ill persons who were identified in the following 16 states: CA (1), CO (1), FL (1), HI (1), IA (1), IN (1), KS (1), MI (1), MN (3), NV (1), OH (2), OK (1), SD (2), TN (1), UT (2), and WA (1).
Although most E. coli outbreaks in meat are lined to ground beef, this recall is of “non-intact steaks”, meaning meats that were blade tenderized before further processing. This has long been seen as a potential safety problem, as tenderizing blades can drive E. coli bacteria which might be on the outside of the steak into the meat.
Marler Clark filed a lawsuit on January 21, 2010, against National Steak and Poultry on behalf of a 14-year-old Utah resident sickened in the outbreak.