There has been over 1 million pounds of ground beef in California, Oregon, Texas and Arizona recalled over an E. Coli scare in the Western United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recalled the large amount of beef officially on August 6th.

The strain of bacteria found has caused at least 6 cases of illness between April 8 and June 18, 2010, and another in February of this year. All of the meat that contained this strain had been distributed between October 2, 2009 and January 12, 2010 in the four states mentioned above. It was also distributed internationally, but there is no word to exactly where as of yet.

Because of the dates in which it was distributed, the majority of the meat has probably already been eaten. However, some people tend to freeze meat for longer periods of time. The FSIS is asking consumers to please check their freezers to make sure they do not have any of this contaminated meat. If any of the meat is found in a freezer, it should be thrown out immediately.