Palo Duro Meat, an Amarillo, Texas, establishment, is recalling 40,000 pounds of frozen fine ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The products subject to recall include 40-pound boxes containing four 10-pound chubs of fine ground beef. Each case bears “Est. 7282” inside the USDA mark of inspection and a production code of 19110.

The frozen product was produced on Sept. 9, 2011, and shipped to two warehouses in Georgia for further distribution to institutions. The institutions include six school districts in Georgia associated with the National School Lunch Program. The bulk of the product has not left the warehouses and at this time, FSIS is not aware of any product having been served as part of school lunches in the districts.

The districts were in Green, Morgan, Lumpkin, Union, Social Circle City and Towns counties, according to Palo Duro Meat Vice President Trevor Caviness.

“The good news is that we caught this before it got out to any consumers and it's on hold at these warehouses,” Caviness said. Palo Duro Meat has been providing ground beef to Georgia districts under the school lunch program for 12 years, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The problem was discovered by the company after a review of lab results that confirmed a positive result for E. coli O157:H7 on September 22. The problem may have occurred as a result of a sample tracking error that allowed the product in question to be inadvertently shipped into commerce. FSIS and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

Source: FSIS, Atlanta Journal-Constitution