Hello! Your Home Delivered Meal Kit May Be Contaminated With E-Coli

Hello! Your home-delivered meal kit may be contaminated.

Check your freezer. HelloFresh meal kits could have come with E.coli.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a public health alert due to concerns that ground beef products in HelloFresh meal kits may be associated with Escherichia coli (E. coli). The meal kits contain ground beef and were shipped from July 2-21, 2022.

The 10-ounce plastic vacuum-packed packages contain 85% ground beef and have the codes “EST#46481 L1 22 155” or “EST#46481 L5 22 155” on the side of the packaging along with “EST.46841” inside the USDA mark of inspection and on the plastic ground beef package.

E. coli Investigation

FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state public health partners have teamed up to investigate an outbreak of E. coli.

Raw ground beef is the probable source of the reported illnesses. Traceback information identified that multiple case patients received ground beef produced at establishment M46841 and distributed by HelloFresh in meal kits from July 2-21, 2022. Traceback of materials used to produce the ground beef is ongoing and FSIS continues to work with suppliers and public health partners on the investigation.

If you have purchased these products you are urged to throw them away. If you have questions you can contact hello@hellofresh.com. You can also call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or live chat via Ask USDA from 10 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday.

Cook Meat Properly

FSIS advises everyone to safely prepare raw meat products, including fresh and frozen, and only eat ground beef that has been cooked to a temperature of 160 F. The only way to confirm that ground beef is cooked to a temperature high enough to kill harmful bacteria is to use a food thermometer that measures internal temperature. The FSIS has a safe temperature chart for all meat on its website.

There is no recall for the possibly contaminated beef because the HelloFresh products are no longer available.