Glenn’s Market and Catering, a Watertown, WI establishment, is recalling approximately 2,532 pounds of raw ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The following products are subject to recall:

• Various size packages of Glenn’s Market ground round, ground chuck and ground beef sold between Dec. 22, 2012 and Jan. 4, 2013.

The products subject to recall were sold only at Glenn’s Market and Catering in Watertown, WI from the retail meat case.

FSIS was notified of an investigation of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses by the Wisconsin Division of Public Health on Jan. 10, 2013. Working in conjunction with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, three case-patients with the outbreak strain have been identified in the state with illness onset dates ranging from Dec. 29, 2012 to Jan. 1, 2013. Among the three case-patients with available information, all three reported consuming raw ground round; two consumed product ground and purchased on Dec. 24, 2012; the third consumed product ground and purchased on Dec. 30, 2012 prior to illness onset. FSIS is continuing to work with the Watertown Department of Public Health, the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on this investigation

Using the Outbreak Database you can see a history of E. coli outbreaks in Wisconsin – here are a few:

  • in 2012, the CDC announced that 12 people in 5 states were part of an outbreak of E. coli O26 linked to sprouts.  One of those 12 unfortunate folks hails from Wisconsin.
  • 2010:  E. coli O157:H7, Hazelnuts:  8 people were sickened in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
  • 2009: E. coli O157:H7, Romaine Lettuce:   19 people were sickened in multiple states, including Wisconsin, in a cluster of illnesses likely linked to lettuce.
  • 2009:  E. coli O157:H7, cookie dough:  Nestle’s cookie was linked to 80 illnesses across the country, including in Wisconsin.
  • 2007:  E. coli O157:H7, ground beef:  Wisconsin residents were among 47 ill in an outbreak also involving people in Minnesota, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
  • 2006:  E. coli O157:H7, other STECs, bagged spinach. Over 200 people were sickened and 5 died in a nationwide outbreak linked to Dole brand bagged spinach.
  • 2005:  E. coli O157:H7, lettuce.  Another Dole outbreak, this one sickened 32 people in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oregon.