By: Candess Zona-Mendola

The FSIS and JBS Tolleson, Inc. announced today that there is another Salmonella outbreak and recall this year. This time, linked to ground beef products. According to the early notices, the investigation identified 57 Salmonella illnesses from 16 (currently unknown) states.

Ground beef/CDC
Ground beef/CDC

Those who have confirmed illnesses have illness onsets from August 5, 2018 through September 6, 2018. Whether there were any hospitalizations remains to be announced. Also, no deaths have been announced at this time. It is likely that case counts will grow, due to the amount of time it takes for illness onset and reporting to be entered into the system.

JBS Tolleson, Inc. initiated its recall today of about 6.5 million pounds of ground beef products sold under the brand names Walmart, Cedar River Farms Natural Beef, Showcase, Showcase/Walmart and JBS Generic. A list of the products can be found here: [Products List (PDF) (or XLSX) | Product Labels (PDF only)].

The products subject to the recall are raw, non-intact beef items with the establishment number “EST. 267” inside the USDA mark of inspection. They were packaged between July 26, 2018 through September 7, 2018 and distributed nationwide. It is important to note that this is a different recall and outbreak than the current E. coli O26 outbreak linked to Cargill and Publix.

FSIS has concerns that the infected meat products may still be on consumers’ homes. According to their notice:

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be frozen and in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” the agency said in announcing the recall.

Medical attention is recommended if you believe you have become sick from eating ground beef products.