The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSAS) has announced that a beef processing company is recalling 129,000 pounds of beef products from 15 American states because of suspected contamination by the potentially deadly foodborne bacterium E coli O157:H7.

The Michigan Department of Community Health identified the possible contamination when it investigated a recent spate of illness due to E coli O157:H7.

The beef products were made by David Creek Meats based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, between 1st March and 30th April this year for Gordon Food Service. They were despatched to distribution centres in Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
The recalled products include boxes of different weights of mechanically tenderized steak and ground beef. Each box shows a net weight declaration and the text "Manufactured for Gordon Food Service" or "Distributed by Gordon Food Service" .

Only those boxes with labels bearing the text "Est. 1947A" inside the USDA mark of inspection and the date code in the top right hand area between 060 and 120 are subject to recall.