Washington, Dec 28 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The National Steak and Poultry establishment has given a recall for over 248,000 pounds of beef products that include steak and other products. The recall was issued because all these products may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The dangerous contamination was discovered during an investigation of the source of a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota and Washington. Working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health and agriculture departments, FSIS found an association between non-intact steaks (blade tenderized prior to further processing) and the illnesses, hence they issued the recall.

The affected products of this recall, under this Class I recall are labeled with the establishment number “EST. 6010T” inside the USDA mark of inspection and packaging dates of “10/12/2009,” “10/13/2009,” “10/14/2009,” or “10/21/2009.” These products were shipped to restaurants nationwide, More specific information about the products can be found at the FSIS website.

Here the contamination was supposed to be from the blades. Food Safety News reprinted part of a letter sent to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in June by members of the Make Our Food Safe Coalition, a collection of food safety advocates: “These needles or blades pierce the surface of the product increasing the risk that any pathogens located on the surface can be transferred to the interior of the product.”