Greg Meyer of KLEW Lewiston reported that the E. coli outbreak associated with ground beef has sickened a north Idaho woman, along with people from several other western states.

Public health officials urge people to check their refrigerators and freezers for the ground beef that has been identified as causing the illnesses. The ground beef, produced by Interstate Meats in Oregon , is sold under the brand name ‘Northwest Finest.’ The products subject to this public health alert include:

· 16-ounce packages of “Northwest Finest 7% FAT, NATURAL GROUND BEEF.” The label bears a UPC code of 752907 600127.

· 16-ounce packages of “Northwest Finest 10% FAT, Organic GROUND BEEF.” No UPC code is available.

Each package also bears the establishment number ‘Est. 965’ inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture mark of inspection as well as a sell-by date between August 1 and August 11.

The ground beef products were produced on various dates between July 19 and July 30 and distributed in Alaska , Idaho , Oregon and Washington . Although these products should no longer be available for purchase, consumers may have purchased them when they were on store shelves and may still have them in their freezers. Any frozen ground beef should be checked and discarded if it matches the identified products.