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Breaking News

18.6 Million Pounds of Ground Beef Recalled

Aired July 19, 2002 - 12:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with breaking news this hour, a massive ground beef recall. Millions of pounds of beef may have been contaminated with the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria.

CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey has been gathering the details from New York. Rea, what more can you tell us?

REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, what CNN has confirmed is at this point there is an expanded recall of 18.6 million pounds of ground beef. This is a voluntary recall by ConAgra, one of the nation's largest food manufacturers, the second largest food manufacturer in the nation. It processes about 23,000 cattle daily in their efforts to feed the nation ground beef and other beef products.

In this particular recall, it's an expansion to a recall that started on June 30 with just 354,000 pounds of ground beef. Now, weeks later, it's been expanded to 18.6 million pounds of ground beef.

The CEC has documented 19 cases of illness associated with this particular recall, again, voluntary. We are told that 17 illnesses occurred in the state of Colorado, one in Wyoming and one in another state, which the USDA did not have information on at the moment of a conference call we were on.

We are told also that no one at this point remains in the hospital, even though 19 people were sickened during the course of a number of weeks. Again, this is an extension of a recall that started on June 30. And essentially what we are told is is that the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which is one of the divisions of the USDA, regularly tests samples, and then notifies food producers when there is a problem, specifically in this case, E. coli.

The USDA has been criticized for its delay in contacting ConAgra, once they did apparently some 10 days after the initial outbreak. They conducted an inspection first, then contacted ConAgra. The company then initiated its first recall, again, expanded significantly at this point.

What we can tell consumers to try to ease their concerns at this point is, A, usually E. coli will sicken individuals within 5 to 7 or 10 days of consumption. Therefore, if in fact, this meat was processed in late May, which it was, and been on the market, and the recall started on June 30, it's very likely at this point that there may not be any other illnesses reported. So keep that in mind. However, what you should know in order to try to keep yourself safe in the meanwhile is that you must thoroughly cook beef. And the only way to know for certain -- you can't go by color -- is to use an accurate digital thermometer, and your ground beef must be cooked to at least 160 degrees. Regardless of how it looks, it must be cooked to 160 degrees to prevent E. coli infection.

Again, at this point, we are told that this recall, 18.6 million pounds --this actually would be the second largest recall of its nature, Kyra. So it is substantial in the sense that it's pretty significant. The largest one occurred in 1997. That was Hudson Foods, also an E. coli outbreak. At that point, 15 people were sickened. Again, with this particular recall, we are told 19 people affected with the illness.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rea Blakey, thank you so much. We'll continue to update this story throughout the hour.

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