Canada Safeway is warning consumers about some bad ground beef sold in its B.C. and Alberta stores during a two-week period in October.

The grocery chain says some packages were contaminated with E. coli bacteria. And it's issued a voluntary recall of regular, lean and extra-lean ground beef bought between Oct. 5 and Oct. 20. (Best before labels – 05 OC 08 to 05 OC 20)




So far, 16 people in B.C. and Alberta have become sick from E. coli, some of them so severely they had to be hospitalized.

Safeway spokesperson David Ryzebol enough of the cases were linked to his company's beef to warrant a recall.

"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency had got some reports of a number of people who had become ill from E. coli. So then they started to do their investigation, and we co-operated with them with their investigation" he says.




"And it seems that it's possible that the source may have been meat from those best before dates of regular, lean, and extra lean ground beef."

Customers are being urged to return any of the recalled meat to Safeway for a full refund.

CFIA spokesperson Garfield Balsom says he can't say whether the meat was processed in a single plant as investigators are still trying to trace the E.coli contamination to its source.

He says there is never a 100 per cent certainty that meat won't be contaminated with E. coli – and that the best way to kill any bacteria is to cook the meat well.

Food contaminated with E. coli bacteria does not look or smell spoiled. It can cause serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses. Symptoms include severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea.