America’s ‘party pizza’ may be contaminated with E. coli
Correction: The Campus Press originally ran this story with the headline “E. coli found in Totino’s pizzas”, which was incorrect. The Campus Press regrets the error.
General Mills is recalling all Totino’s and Jeno’s brand pizzas because the product may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
On Nov. 1, General Mills filled a Class I recall. The General Mills press release suggests all potentially threatening pizzas be disposed of, and that consumers send the stock keeping units and their name and address to General Mills for the product to be replaced.
“The recall affects approximately 414,000 cases of pizza products currently in stores and all similar pizza products in consumers’ freezers,” according to the press release.
According to General Mills, they sell on average 240 million pizzas a year.
E. coli O157:H7 is a strain that can make a person have bloody diarrhea, kidney failure and even cause death, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site.
E. coli O157:H7 is usually found in undercooked ground meat products.
The earliest case of E. coli 0157:H7 arose on July 20, and there have been 21 occurrences in 10 states since.
“Totino’s and Jeno’s, working in cooperation with federal and state food safety authorities, launched an investigation immediately upon learning of the potential problem,” the press release stated.
“This would turn me away from [Totino’s] if I had got sick from them,” said Lauren Tomasetti, 21, a senior sociology and communications major. “I buy the cheese ones, but if I did buy the meat ones I would be creeped out.”
A local store caught wind of the E. coli breakout and had their supplier replace all of the Totino’s pizzas with new ones. The store does not sell pork or pepperoni products, but the managers want customers to feel safe that the Totinos products were being replaced with new ones.
“I am sure that they will fix the problem,” Tomasetti said. “Plus, they are delicious and a dollar. What could be better than that?”
If concerned you have a potentially dangerous Totino’s pizza, check
the General Mills Web site for a list of SKU’s being recalled.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Zach Keller at zach.keller@thecampuspress.com
