From Naiomi Shulman at SlashFood: WinCo Foods, a food seller operating in six Western states, has issued a recall on ground beef sold in all of its 70 stores, which are located in California, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Utah. This is an expansion of an earlier recall that affected only its Modesto, CA, stores, according to the Modesto Bee.

The original recall was announced on April 10. "Two samples of ground beef purchased at the Modesto store tested positive for E. coli O157:H7," wrote Brian Ramsay for the Bee, and consequently all tray-packed ground beef sold from April 3 through April 9 was recalled from the stores.

Then, ongoing investigation by the USDA and the California Department of Public Health spurred the company to extend and expand the reach of the recall. Per a company press release, "all fresh ground beef packed in styrofoam trays with a sale date of March 28, 2010 through April 9, 2010" should be returned to the store for a full refund. It's unclear where the beef became tainted; new information, according to WinCo, may implicate the store's beef suppliers.

E.coli, a pathogen found in animal intestines and feces, can cause deadly food-borne illness. Most healthy people recover fully, but the elderly, very young, and those with compromised immune systems are particularly at risk. Luckily, no one has reported getting sick from eating WinCo beef, but if you've got a tray of this ground beef in your fridge, don't chance it -- bring it back to the store and get your money back.