Officials close in on a cause for E-coli - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Officials close in on a cause for E-coli

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By Jennifer Emert - bio | email

July 8, 2008

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - People are still getting sick with e-coli symptoms in Colquitt County, but Tuesday, health inspectors say they're closing in on the cause. 

They believe a Moultrie restaurant bought tainted beef from a Nebraska distributor, which also supplied beef linked to an e-coli outbreak in Michigan and Ohio. The Barbeque Pit Steak and Seafood Restaurant voluntarily closed last Thursday at the request of the health department. Health officials called in the USDA who met Tuesday morning with the restaurant's owners and Public Health officials. They say the meat contaminated at the Moultrie restaurant was not ground beef, but it was beef from Nebraska Beef with the same date on it as the meat recalled in Michigan and Ohio.

"The beef that was recalled earlier before was actually ground beef, this is actually not ground beef but Sirloin steak, but it is the same beef that has been recalled," said Dr. Jacqueline Grant, Southwest Georgia Public Health Director.

Health officials are awaiting test results on equipment from the restaurant to see if there are traces of E-coli on it. Eight people have tested positive for E-coli, four other cases are presumed positive, and test results for another two dozen are still pending.

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