E. coli infections in seven persons have been linked to HelloFresh meal boxes. Before becoming unwell, six of them admitted to consuming ground beef from their meal kits. Customers who still have the contaminated meat should discard it, according to food safety investigators. Morning Brew is read by more than 3 million people; you should too! Following the consumption of ground beef from the meal delivery company HelloFresh, six persons were admitted to the hospital with E. coli.
The patients were questioned by state and municipal health officials. They became unwell between June 8 and August 17. Before becoming unwell, every person whose story was heard said they had consumed ground beef from HelloFresh.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the patients and one other individual who became unwell but did not need medical treatment were spread out across the nation in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) advised customers who frozen meat from HelloFresh boxes delivered between July 2 and 21 to discard any ground beef, according to an statement Saturday. The business was not obligated to issue a recall because the product is no longer being sold.
Genetic testing demonstrated that the sick individuals had the E. coli strain O157:H7, which is frequently to blame for outbreaks of intestinal sickness. According to the CDC , stomach cramps, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea are all signs of an E. coli infection.
The firm recalled onions tainted with Salmonella in 2019, which were a part of a national outbreak at the time, according to food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who spoke to Insider. This is not the first time HelloFresh has been connected to a foodborne illness outbreak.
With these illnesses and the current investigation into Daily Harvest, Marler expressed the hope that the FDA and FSIS will pay more attention to the expanding home meal delivery business.
Customers should check their freezers for fresh beef. Ground beef has been linked to numerous previous E. coli outbreaks, including this spring’s recall of beef thought to contain the E. coli strains 120,000 pounds of ground beef and Hawaii’s Big Island Beef in August , which was manufactured in New Jersey.
FSIS investigators were able to pinpoint a specific manufacturing facility in the US as the outbreak’s origins. HelloFresh stated the warning probably “affects a very small number of HelloFresh consumers in the US” in a statement to the Washington Post .
Nevertheless, FSIS worries that some customers might have unsold food in their freezers. Consumers who have used HelloFresh should search for 10-ounce vacuum-sealed packets of 85 percent-lean ground beef that may carry the label “EST.46841,” according to an public health alert from the agency.
Food safety professionals generally advise people to only eat ground beef that has been cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is high enough to kill the majority of hazardous bacteria.
