© Alfredo Hernandez Rios/ShutterstockThe US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a public health alert on ground beef sold in HelloFresh meal kits. It says that the meat "may be associated with Escherichia coli (E. coli) illness."
The FSIS issued a public health alert and not a recall because the beef is no longer available for purchase, but it believes some people may still have the meat in their freezer.
The meal kits were shipped to customers by HelloFresh from July 2 to July 21. The beef arrived in a 10-ounce plastic vacuum packaged package labeled as "Ground Beef 85% Lean/15% Fat" with the code "EST#46481 L1 22 155" or "EST#46481 L5 22 155" printed on the side of the package.
FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and local health agencies are investigating an E. coli outbreak. The organizations believe that raw ground beef is the likely source of the illnesses, as multiple patients who got sick received ground beef in HelloFresh meal kits, FSIS states in the public health alert.
As with most recalls, the FSIS encourages anyone who has the product to throw it out. More details and images of the labels are available on the USDA recall page.
Dustin Nelson is a Senior Staff Writer at Thrillist. Follow Dustin on Twitter.