The search for the source of an E. coli contamination that has made 177 people ill has landed federal health authorities at two ground beef suppliers: K2D, which sells its product under the brand name Colorado Premium Foods, and Grant Park Packing.
But testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that at least one additional source has yet to be found.
The agency did not provide an explanation as to how two unconnected suppliers, operating in different areas of the country, could have sold ground beef contaminated with the same strain of E. coli bacteria. Testing confirmed that the strain sickened some but not all of the 177 confirmed victims, the CDC said.
Similarly, the health watchdog has maintained that some victims had consumed contaminated meat in restaurants, and others had cooked and eaten it at home. The 167,000 pounds of ground beef voluntarily recalled last week by Grant Park and K2D was packed in bulk, suggesting it was intended for restaurants or high-volume foodservice institutions.
Grant Park is based in Franklin, Ill., and K2D operates out of Carrollton, Ga.
The CDC said it is maintaining its search for the source or sources of the other bacterial varieties that sickened people in 10 states, calling it “a rapidly evolving investigation.”
Its update on the situation came two days before Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., publicly called on Congress to increase funding for the FDA, another federal agency that monitors the safety of the nation’s food. Schumer noted that the FDA, a sister agency of the CDC under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, had found traces of listeria in ice cream produced by 99 plants across the U.S. Salmonella was found in the output of an additional dairy, said Schumer, the Senate’s minority leader.
Schumer, who frequently uses the news lull typical of weekends to grab the media’s attention, called for Congress to allocate $16 million to hire more safety inspectors and another $16 million to develop technology to detect pathogens.