E. COLI INFECTIONS TRACED TO 5 NEBRASKA STORES

LAURA KLEPACKI

OMAHA, Neb. -- A total of 21 cases of E. coli infections reported here last month have been traced to contaminated ground beef sold at four Baker's Supermarkets units here and one Super Saver store owned by B&R Stores, Lincoln, Neb.

Seven victims have been hospitalized. At present, all are recovering, according to state health department officials.

The meat, which officials say was sourced from the Northern States Beef plant in Omaha, was purchased in coarse ground form and then further processed by the retailers. The product was distributed by a local division of Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City, Okla.

An investigation into the E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak by state and local health officials and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is continuing.

Don Bruce, meat buyer for Super Saver, said that typically the store uses boneless chuck for its ground beef, but had been running a special on ground beef and ordered some of the coarse ground just "to have some extra for the sale."

He declined to make any further comments. And Fleming officials did not comment.

Celia Ferrell, spokeswoman for Baker's, said since the outbreak the company held a press conference for local media and has been distributing printed materials in its stores to educate its consumers on the proper handling of ground meat.

However, K.T. Miller, director of public relations for Northern States, said her company is still questioning whether it was the sole supplier of ground beef to the Baker's stores and the Super

Saver unit. "We test for that particular organism and have never found a positive reading at that plant," said Miller.

"We have state-of-the-art quality control in our plant and we take every precaution necessary. We don't let anything go until it is inspected. We also have an HACCP [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point] plan," said Miller.

Coincidentally, the Northern States plant had already been under investigation by USDA as part of Secretary Mike Espy's new program to hold surprise inspections of some 1,000 of the nation's meat and poultry processing plants.

Stemming from an unannounced visit by USDA inspectors on April 15 and a follow-up review on April 19, the plant was cited for deficiencies in sanitation and in meeting zero tolerance standard for fecal contamination, and problems in product handling.

Jacque Knight, spokeswoman for the USDA, said Northern States, which was fully cooperating with the government, was required to enact an immediate remediation plan. Miller said the plant's deficiencies have been corrected.

The 21 E. coli 0157:H7 cases surfaced in two clusters. One outbreak involved five members of a Boy Scouts of America troop in the Lincoln area who had consumed undercooked ground beef at a cookout on April 9 and began reporting symptons on April 11, according to Thomas Safranek, state epidemiologist.

The other 16 cases were reported in the Omaha metropolitan area and included 10 children under the age of 15. Health officials attributed 13 cases to consuming undercooked ground beef and three to exposure to other infected individuals.

The cases were reported from April 10 to April 26, according to Carol Allensworth, an epidemiologist at the Douglas County health department, which includes Oma-ha. The product shipped by Northern States and also the meat packages placed in the case by Baker's were all bearing the new federally mandated safe-handling labels designed to instruct consumers on the proper handling of fresh meat.

The new labels -- which are required on ground meat packages by May 27 and all other whole meats by July 6 -- were first proposed by Espy last year following an E. coli outbreak in the northwest in which four children died from eating undercooked ground beef sold at a fast-food restaurant.