Target stores in Ohio sold recalled beef

Hamburger patties may be contaminated with E. coli, according to USDA agency.

Some portion of the nearly 43,000 pounds of ground beef potentially contaminated with E. coli bacteria and recalled by its producer on June 13 was sold in Ohio, according to the most recent updates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The food-inspection agency has released a list of retail outlets that sold the potentially contaminated ground beef, and that list includes Target stores in Ohio. Target acknowledged on its product recall page that it sold one particular product on the recall list: onepound packages containing four patties of “THOMAS FARMS GRASS-FED GROUND BEEF PATTIES 85% LEAN/15% FAT” with a “use or freeze by” date of 06/25/20.

Neither the agriculture department’s list of retailers nor the Target product-recall page specifies which Target stores stocked the recalled beef, but simply includes Ohio among the 18 states where the recalled product was sold.

A Target spokeswoman confirmed to this news outlet Monday afternoon that the recall “impacts all Target stores in Ohio,” and noted that since the recall announcement is more than two weeks old, “the impacted product is no longer in stores.”

Target operates stores in Huber Heights, Beavercreek, Sugarcreek Twp.,

Miami Twp., South Lebanon and West Chester Twp. The retailer shut down its Springfield store in 2016.

In the days immediately following the announcement of the recall, attention focused on a brand of ground beef distributed nationally to Walmart stores, but Walmart previously posted on its product-recall website that no Walmart store in Ohio sold the recalled Marketside Butcher Organic Grass-Fed Ground Beef beef from the lot produced June 1, 2020. The recall also included a handful of Thomas Farms ground-beef products produced on June 1.

Target said on its product-recall page that it did not carry any of the other recalled products other than the one-pound packages of four patties of Thomas Farms 85% lean/15% fat with the June 25 use-by date.

The USDA classified its June 13 action as a “Class I” recall, the highest-risk classification, meaning it represents “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” However, the potential contamination from E. coli O157:H7 was discovered during routine FSIS testing, and there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of the recalled beef, the USDA said in a release.

The raw ground beef products produced on June 1 were recalled by Lakeside Refrigerated Services in Swedesboro, N.J. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged to throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.