Someone Has Died From This Severe E.Coli Outbreak, So Beware When You Buy Beef

It’s always important to safely handle your food. If you’re not careful, you could get food poisoning, and anyone who’s experienced food poisoning knows that it’s a bad time all around. However, sometimes food safety is out of our hands and a contaminant can be spread, nation-wide, due to human error. Like when romaine lettuce was found to have E.coli back in May, or when we had stop eating some of our favorite cereals (due to a Salmonella contamination) in July. The most recent food crisis is just as alarming: over 132,000 pounds of ground beef has been recalled due to an E.coli contamination, and it’s already led to at least one death.

The beef was recalled by Cargill Meat Solutions on September 19th after it was believed to have been contaminated with E.coli O26. The meat in question was packaged on June 21st of this year, and it was reportedly shipped to a large number of restaurants and stores throughout the country. Illnesses were reported between July 5th and July 25th between four different states. While it seems like the damage has been done, the CDC has warned consumers to not purchase any Cargill meat until the coast is clear.

The CDC further reported that E. coli usually causes sickness between two and eight days after ingesting the bacteria. On average, most people realize something is wrong in the third or fourth day after exposure.

This strain of E. coli caused 18 reports of illness. Out of those 18, six were hospitalized, with one person developing kidney failure. But one person who was hit with E. coli in Florida actually died from the exposure.

One of the scary parts about this story is that it’s often very hard to tell whether or not our food is safe. But at the very least,  there are a few ways you can help prevent the spread of E.coli.

For one, you’ll want to make sure that you’re meticulously washing your hands before, during, and after food prep. It’s so easy to spread germs through handling food, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. You might want to brush up on the proper way to wash your hands, as there’s actually a pretty big chance you’re doing it wrong.

You’ll also want to wash all fruits and vegetables before preparing. Even though this case was spread through meat, E. coli can also spread through produce (as we learned was the case with romaine lettuce).

If you’re worried about the meat you might have in your freezer, Delish reports that all of the recalled product has the number “EST. 86R” inside the USDA mark of inspection. If you find a code that matches, make sure you get rid of it as soon as possible.