On Feb. 19, Canada Safeway Ltd. started recalling some frozen hamburgers from its Canadian stores because of concerns they may contain E. coli 0157:H7.
Gourmet Meat Shoppe Big & Juicy Burger, Gourmet Meat Shoppe Prime Rib Burger and Butcher's Cut Pure Beef Patties, which are sold in packages of 10, 20 and 40, were recalled and all three affected products had a best-before date of Aug. 14, 2013.
These products were distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.
Some of these products were taken off the shelves at the Safeway store in 100 Mile House, Canada Safeway public relations manager Betty Kellsey says, adding this was confirmed by local store manager Sean Watson.
"He [said] there was some affected product with the best-buy of Aug. 14 in his store, which has, of course, been recalled and discarded."
Kellsey notes Watson has had a few customers come in with returns of that product.
"If [consumers] have any concerns or they have any of the affected products in their freezers, they are most welcome to bring them to their local Safeway store for a full refund.
"We do have new stock in the stores as well, so the stores can either exchange the product or provide a full refund – whatever makes the customer happy in this regard."
Meanwhile, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CIFA) launched an investigation after two people became sick in Manitoba and Ontario after consuming the products.
The CIFA began an investigation of a large processing plant in Ontario as the possible source of contamination.
Media reports state the CFIA linked the source to Cardinal Meat Specialists, which operates a plant in Brampton, Ont. However, it was noted that while Cardinal is the largest producer of hamburger patties in Canada, it gets its ingredients from a variety of other suppliers.
Food contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 may not look or smell bad, but it can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and in most severe cases, cause kidney failure.