Pandemic ground beef recall: check that chopped meat in your freezer

As if food shopping during the pandemic hasn’t been difficult enough, now there’s a nearly 43,000-pound ground beef recall to cope with.

A processor named Lakeside Refrigerated Services, Swedesboro, New Jersey, produced the beef June 1. The possible presence of E coil is the culprit prompting the recall.

The meat is sold under the Marketside Butcher and Thomas Farms brands and was sent to roughly 700 Walmart and other retailers nationwide.

States where Marketside Butcher Organic Grass-Fed Ground Beef is likely to turn up include Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Vermont, and Puerto Rico.

The recall is a reminder than even organic items can get contaminated, depending on where they are processed and packaged for sale.