Beef recalled by Ellsworth school distributor

ELLSWORTH – A national beef recall announced recently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of possible E. coli contamination has reached at least one Maine community.

The Ellsworth School Department was notified last week that one of its food distributors was recalling a shipment of beef patties, some of which made it to the high school.

So far, though, no health problems have been reported, Ellsworth Superintendent Frank Hackett said Tuesday.

“You’d like to think that recalls like this would hit distributors before the buyer,” Hackett said.

School officials immediately sent out letters to parents, informing them of the recall.

“Everyone has been real pleased with the way we handled it,” Hackett said.

Because the school department deals with many different distributors, Hackett said he didn’t know which one was responsible for the beef in question.

Hal Prince, director of quality assurance at the Maine Department of Agriculture, said he was notified last week by Ellsworth officials of the recall, but he wasn’t aware of any other instances in Maine.

“I really don’t know. We’re following up on it, but the [companies] aren’t releasing much information to us,” Prince said by telephone on Tuesday.

Prince said he was given contact information for two companies that recently have been involved in beef recalls, but he wasn’t sure which one was linked to Maine.

One of those companies, Davis Creek Meats and Seafood of Kalamazoo, Mich., announced last week that it was recalling 129,000 pounds of beef in 15 states.

A spokesperson for Davis Creek said Tuesday, however, that none of its meat goes to Maine.

The second company involved in a massive recall was PM Beef Holdings LLC of Windom, Minn., which pulled 117,500 pounds of beef from the market, according to a USDA announcement released on May 10.

“Because these products later became ground beef sold under many different retail brand names, consumers should check with their local retailer,” the announcement read.

John Hagerla, a spokesman for PM Beef Holdings, did not return a call Tuesday for comment.

The Minnesota company’s recalled beef was produced in late March and sent to distributors in several states, which means Ellsworth’s beef likely came from PM Beef Holdings.

The same company has been linked to an E. coli outbreak in Minneapolis, Minn., that affected seven people, including three who had to be hospitalized, the Associated Press reported earlier this month.

E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration.

Ellsworth school officials learned of the recall on May 15, but by that time some of the recalled beef patties already were consumed at the high school between May 10 and 14, Hackett said. They were not used in any of Ellsworth’s other schools.

“Thankfully, we know what kids buy,” he said. “Our computer system keeps track, so we were able to track every student who bought hamburgers on those days.”

As it turns out, 27 students purchased hamburgers that were possibly tainted. Hackett said the meat in question was tested and no bacteria was found. If the meat was cooked properly, chances are any bacteria present would have been killed anyway, he said.