FDA
September 13, 2019
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local partners in the U.S., and with the support of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), investigated a multistate outbreak of E. coli O121 and E. coli O103 illnesses likely linked to ground bison supplied by Northfork Bison Distributions Inc. of Saint-Leonard, Québec, Canada.
On September 13, 2019, CDC announced that the outbreak appears to be over.
During the investigation, FDA and CDC analyzed traceback and epidemiological information to determine that ground bison supplied by Northfork Bison Distributions Inc. was the likely cause of the illnesses. FDA laboratory analysis of bison patties packed by the firm on February 26th, 2019, confirmed the presence of one of the outbreak strains of E. coli.
Northfork Bison Distributions Inc. was forthcoming with information to aid in the investigation, and publicly announced a voluntary recall on July 16, 2019. This recall included ground bison meat and bison patties produced between February 22 and April 30, 2019.
FDA regulates bison meat because the authority is not assigned specifically to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) in the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA).
Recommendation
Because the product is frozen and may still be in freezers, distributors, retailers and restaurants should not distribute, use or serve ground bison (including bison burgers) recalled by Northfork Bison Distributions Inc.
Consumers should not eat products prepared using recalled ground bison (including bison burgers) sold under the Northfork Bison label including bison burgers sold to retailers in 4 x 4-ounce packages with expiration dates through October 8, 2020.
