The Hannaford supermarket chain, which has stores in New England and New York, has recalled ground beef with a sell-by date of December 17 or earlier because it may be contaminated with salmonella. Fourteen people have fallen ill, and ten of them reported purchasing ground beef at Hannaford stores in Maine, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont between October 12 and November 20, according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Seven people were hospitalized; no deaths have been reported.

Maine-based Hannaford said in a statement most of the people who fell ill had eaten its 85-percent lean ground beef. Among the varieties being recalled are Hannaford’s regular ground beef and its Taste of Inspirations Angus and Nature’s Place brands, with content ranging between 73 percent and 90 percent lean. Hannaford said the precise amount of beef being recalled is undetermined, but that all the beef affected by the recall has been removed from stores.

The type of salmonella detected in the beef through a USDA and Centers for Disease Control investigation is the salmonella typhimurium strain, which is resistant to some commonly prescribed antibiotics, according to Hannaford and the USDA. Salmonella infections can be life-threatening, particularly for people with weak immune systems. Symptoms include diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever within six to 72 hours. The chain has about 170 stores in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York.

Once again, there have been a good number of recalls since the December issue and we were unable to get them all in this issue. If you need more information on any of the recalls listed above, or would like information on a recall that you are aware of that we haven’t listed, please visit our firm’s web site at www.BeasleyAllen.com/recalls. We would also like to know if we have missed any significant recall that involves a safety issue this month. If so, please let us know. As indicated at the outset, you may also contact Shanna Malone at Shanna.Malone@beasleyallen.com for more recall information.