Tainted meat shipped to Gordon Food Service

5/21/2014

Gordon Food Service voluntarily announced today that its Toledo stores received some of the 1.8 million pounds of tainted beef from a Michigan supplier.

The beef, which was shipped from a Detroit-based company, has been blamed with 11 cases of E. coli in Michigan and Lucas County.

Gordon Food Service issued the following statement:

“GFS Marketplace stores, including those in Toledo, Ohio, stock one of the items that was included in the Wolverine voluntary recall. That item is a Fresh Premium Angus Beef Steakburger Patty, 10 count, 4lb package. The GFS Marketplace store reorder number is 841757.

”Upon learning of the recall, Gordon Food Service implemented our standard recall procedures, which includes disposing all recalled products and displaying a recall notice in our GFS Marketplace stores. Gordon Food Service also posted the recall notice we received from Wolverine.”

Eric Zgodzinski, director of community and environmental health services for the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, applauded the company for coming forward after initially telling investigators they did not have any of the tainted products.

"I commend them for that,“ Mr. Zgodzinski said. ”There may have been some confusion earlier. Our staff may have asked if they had any of the products on their shelves, instead of did you have any of the products.“

Lucas County health officials still have not been able to confirm whether a fourth county resident, a 17-year-old male, has contracted a strain of E. coli linked to the contaminated Michigan meat. But officials say there have been no additional cases reported.

“That’s good news; that’s very good news,” Dr. David Grossman, health commissioner of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, said on Wednesday.

Federal health officials initially announced that distribution of the contaminated meat was limited to Michigan and Ohio. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has now issued an alert on their Web site that they believe the infected meat was also sent to distribution centers nationwide, including grocery stores and schools.