E. coli fears trigger large recall of ground beef

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Topps Meat Co. said Saturday it expanded a recall announced last week to include 21.7 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with a potentially fatal strain of E. coli bacteria.

The meat products involved carry a variety of Topps's brand names -- including Butcher's Best and Sand Castle Fine Meat -- and have "best if used by" dates between Sept. 25, 2007, and Sept. 25, 2008.

On Tuesday, the company issued a much smaller recall, including just over 300,000 pounds of ground meat.

The closely held Elizabeth, N.J., company said the meat had been "distributed to retail grocery stores and food service institutions throughout" the U.S. It said it believes the vast majority of the recalled beef has already been consumed.

In the latest announcement, Topps didn't specify which retailers might have taken delivery of the meat.

But on Saturday, Stop & Shop Co./Giant Food (AHONY:

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AHONY 15.00, 0.00, 0.0%) (NL:03325: news, chart, profile) of Quincy, Mass., said it has pulled all Topps frozen-beef patties from its stores. The supermarket urged its customers who still have them to discard them or return them to any of its stores for a refund.