Kroger Expands Ground Beef Recall

Many recall roads continue to lead back to the hapless Nebraska Beef Ltd. packing plant, as late last week Kroger had to expand its warnings to consumers about possible tainted ground beef bought from is shelves after it learned another of its suppliers had sent it product involved in the widespread and expanding Nebraska Beef recall.

The Cincinnati-based leading supermarket operator said it had placed signs in its meat departments in the Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, markets, as well as in markets in Indiana and Illinois, urging customers to check the sell-by dates on the ground beef they recently purchased, looking for the tell-tale "sell by" dates of August 1 through August 16 that would indicate the product is part of the Nebraska Beef recall.

Meanwhile, Nebraska Beef Ltd.’s recall was expanded late last week to include an additional 160,000 pounds of beef. Roughly 1.36 million pounds of beef is now covered under the recall, which began Aug. 8 after the company's meat was linked to an E. coli outbreak in 10 states.

Kroger said the recall now involves 108 of its supermarkets in Cincinnati, Dayton, northern Kentucky, and southeast Indiana; 153 multi-banner stores in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri; and another 29 Jay C stores the chain operates in southern Indiana.

It had to extend its action after some bad news from a supplier. "Late Thursday we were informed by a supplier - Weinstein Wholesale Meats out of the Chicago area - that product they supplied to us was part of Nebraska Beef's recall,'' Kroger spokeswoman Meghan Glynn was quoted as saying by Reuters. "We had informed suppliers last month that we no longer wanted ground beef from Nebraska Beef.”

Earlier recalls had already hit Kroger’s subsidiary chains Fred Meyer and King Soopers. Not surprisingly, the national grocer has said it is reviewing the entire supply chain network for beef in the wake of the recalls.

Whole Foods faced a similar mess after one of its suppliers, Coleman Natural Foods, revealed it had distributed suspect ground beef that it had sourced from the Nebraska Beef plant.

A separate Nebraska Beef recall last month covered 5.3 million pounds of meat.
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