ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Contaminated fresh ground beef caused a possible E. coli outbreak that killed two people and sent 16 others to hospitals, federal health officials said yesterday. Twenty-eight people may have become ill after eating beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All but three of the suspected infections are in the northeastern U.S., and 18 are in New England, said CDC spokeswoman Lola Scott Russell.

Richmond-based C.F. Sauer Co.‘s recall of some of its sauce mixes will not affect production or employment at its local plant, which makes the products, the company said. C.F. Sauer announced Tuesday that it was voluntarily recalling several of its sauce mixes sold in Virginia and 12 other states because they contain instant non-fat dry milk from a Minnesota-based supplier whose equipment was found to be contaminated with salmonella.

What it includes: The recall covers select code dates of brown gravy, brown gravy with mushrooms, brown gravy with onions, turkey gravy, pork gravy, country sausage gravy, country style gravy, Alfredo sauce mix, Cajun gumbo mix and Hollandaise sauce mix produced under the Sauer’s, Gold Medal and Piggly Wiggly labels.
  What to do: The company said the recalled packages can be returned to the store where they were purchased. Customers can contact the company at (800) 688-5676 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that a sample of raw cookie dough collected at a Nestlé USA manufacturing plant in Virginia last week has tested positive for E. coli. Nestle voluntarily recalled all Toll House refrigerated cookie-dough products made at the Danville factory this month after the FDA told Nestle it suspected that consumers may have been exposed to E. coli bacteria after eating the dough raw.

Nestle USA has halted production of refrigerated Toll House cookie dough at its Danville plant pending an investigation into whether the product is responsible for a national outbreak of bacteria-triggered illness. The factory is where all the recalled cookie-dough products are made. Federal health officials say they suspect the product is responsible for the illnesses of 65 people in 29 states since March, including two in Virginia.

The Virginia Department of Health today is notifying all shellfish dealers and food distributors in Virginia that oysters harvested from section 2C off of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast have been linked to an outbreak of norovirus in Tennessee. The health department said any such oysters should be removed from most markets in Virginia by early next week.

The Food and Drug Administration’s Web site lists products recalled because of salmonella-contaminated peanut butter produced at the Peanut Corporation of America’s Georgia plant. A partial list follows; the full list is online at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm. Abbott Nutrition: Selected ZonePerfect and Nutriballs nutrition bars Amway Global: Selected Nutrilite energy bars Arbonne International: Arbonne Figure 8 Peanut Butter Chews Brent and Sam’s: Selected Archer Farms and Sam’s Choice peanut butter cookies Clif Bar & Co.: Selected Clif, Luna and Mojo branded nutrition bars General Mills: LARABAR Peanut Butter Cookie snack bars and JamFrakas Peanut Butter Blisscrisp snack bars GNC: Triflex Peanut Butter Soft Chews Keebler: Selected Austin Quality Foods and Keebler brand snack crackers; Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies; Keebler Soft Bath Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies Kroger: Private Selection Peanut Butter Passion Ice Cream McKee Foods Corp.: Selected Little Debbie snack crackers Lovin Oven LLC: Health Valley Organic Peanut Crunch Chewy Granola Bars Meijer: Selected Meijer brand snack crackers and ice cream NutriSystem: Peanut butter granola bars Perry’s Ice Cream Co.: Selected ice cream products sold in Wegman’s and other grocery stores PetSmart: Selected Grreat Choice dog biscuits and Carolina Prime products Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products: Selected cookies it sells through Wal-Mart, Food Lion and other grocery stores Ready Pac Foods: Selected fruit and vegetable snack packs sold at Safeway and other grocery stores South Bend Chocolate Co.: Selected candies Trader Joe’s: Trader Joe’s Sliced Green Apples With All Natural Peanut Butter, Celery with Peanut Butter and selected granola bars; Sutter’s Formula Cookies

About 7,000 Century Cookware stainless steel stockpots have been recalled because the metal handles of the pots can detach during use, posing a serious burn hazard to consumers. Ocean State Jobbers Inc., the imported based in North Kingstown, R.I., has received one report of the handles breaking off a pot and causing a burn injury. The recall involves the 8-quart, 12-quart, 16-quart, and 20-quart Century Cookware stainless steel stockpots with glass lids. “Century Cookware” is marked on the front and on the bottom of each pot.

About 35,500 rechargeable batteries and recharging stations for Didj custom gaming systems, manufactured in China by LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., because the batteries can overheat if the gaming system is put into the base upside down. The company has received 12 reports of overheated batteries, including one report of a minor burn. The batteries and recharging stations were sold at department and toy stores around the country and online at www.leapfrog.com and other Web sites between July and October 2008.