Nebraska Beef expands recall to 5.3 mln lbs: USDA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nebraska Beef Ltd expanded its voluntary recall of material used in making ground beef to 5.3 million lbs, 10 times the initial recall, because it may contain disease-causing bacteria, the U.S. government said on Friday.

Forty illnesses have been reported in connection with ground beef subject to the recall. The recall was expanded based on investigations of the illnesses in Michigan and Ohio.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service said it concluded production practices used by Nebraska Beef, based in Omaha, Nebraska, were insufficient to control E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in beef products intended for grinding.

E. coli O157:H7 bacteria can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in severe cases, kidney failure.

Involved in the recall are about 5.3 million pounds (2.4 million kg) of the company's beef manufacturing trimmings and other products intended for use in raw ground beef produced from May 16-June 26.

The materials were processed by other companies and probably will not carry the establishment number "EST 19336" on products available to consumers.

On Monday, Nebraska Beef began a voluntary recall of 531,707 lbs of ground beef products. The beef was distributed to processors in Colorado, Nebraska and Texas and to wholesalers in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

That recall followed a June 25 recall by Kroger Co, a grocery chain, of ground beef sold in Michigan and central and northwestern Ohio.

California meatpacker Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co made the largest U.S. meat recall ever -- 143 million lbs (65 million kg) -- on February 17. It was all the meat the company produced in a two-year period.

The government said Hallmark did not follow rules on treatment of cattle unable to stand on their own.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Walter Bagley)