By Jory Lange

The CDC has declared the ground beef Salmonella food poisoning outbreak from JBS Tolleson ground beef products over.  On October 4, 2018, JBS Tolleson recalled 6.9 million pounds of ground beef products.  On December 4, 2018, JBS Tolleson recalled an additional 5.2 million pounds of ground beef products.  Here is a summary of the CDC’s final report, by the numbers:

  • 403 confirmed Salmonella Newport cases were reported to the CDC.
  • 117 Americans were hospitalized with Salmonella Newport infections.
  • This outbreak affected patients in at least 30 states:  Arizona; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Hawaii; Idaho; Iowa; Illinois; Indiana; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Michigan; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; New Mexico; New York; Nevada; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; South Dakota; Texas; Utah; Washington; West Virginia; and Wyoming.
  • JBS Tolleson produced and packaged the affected ground beef products from July 26, 2018 to September 7, 2018.
  • More than 100 different retailers sold the affected ground beef.  The USDA-FSIS has provided a list of stores and states where the recalled ground beef products were sold.
Ground beef/CDC
Ground beef/CDC

The first reported Salmonella infection occurred on August 5, 2018 and the last reported illness occurred on February 8, 2019.

The CDC warns that although the outbreak is over, people could still have the contaminated beef products in their freezers.  The CDC advises people who may still have the affected ground beef in their freezers to not eat, serve, or sell it. According to the CDC:

  • “When you check your freezer for recalled beef, look for beef labeled with the establishment number “EST. 267.” This is usually found inside the USDA mark of inspection, but can be elsewhere on the package.”

Outbreak News Today has been providing updates on this ground beef Salmonella outbreak since the fall of 2018.