MODESTO, Calif. – A California company is recalling about 1 million pounds of ground beef products after seven people were sickened by E. coli contamination.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday that Valley Meat Co., of Modesto, sold the potentially contaminated beef patties and ground beef in California, Texas, Oregon, Arizona and internationally.
The beef was processed between Oct. 2, 2009, and Jan. 12, 2010. The company says most of the products are sold frozen and that they're working to remove them from grocery store shelves.
Valley Meat says consumers should discard possibly affected meat or return it to stores for a full refund.
The California Department of Health notified the USDA of a cluster of E. coli-related illnesses in mid-July, leading to the recall.
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