A June 24th (Class 1) recall of beef from Colorado company JBS Swift Beef has expanded from 41,000+ pounds of beef to over 380,000 pounds. The beef is said to be contaminated with E coli 0157:H7, “an incredibly toxic bacterium which can cause everything from violent stomach upset to permanent renal failure to death.”

There are currently 18 confirmed people who have been affected by the beef, which usually means that for every one of those people there are 35-50 cases that were not tracked or confirmed.  The beef was processed in April and as of now the USDA has not released a list of where the beef in question is.  The reason for this is that JBS Swift Beef has refused to release the list.  

It is known that “the earlier recall covered products that were made April 21-22 and shipped to Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.”  Also, “all the beef products in the expanded recall were produced April 21 and are in boxes bearing ‘EST. 969,’ a package date of ‘042109′ and a time stamp ranging from ‘0618′ to ‘1130.’”

News like this makes me really upset and really gets to the heart of why it is so important that everyone out there see Food, Inc and then get involved with the social action campaign for the film.  At Food, Inc’s website you can learn how to get involved with the Center for Foodborne Illness and work towards living in a world where 380,000+ pounds of food don’t ever need to be recalled.

*photo by FotoosVanRobin (CC)