Tainted Beef Recalled By Cary Food Lion Store

The E. coli 157 strain is one of the more serious strains; the main sympton is bloody diarrhea. But it can be even more dangerous to the elderly, people who are ill, and children.

"The kidney doesn't function properly and the child may have to undergo dialysis until their bodies recover generally they fully recover but it's quite a serious disease," says Lee-Ann Jaykus, a food microbiologist atN.C. State University.

While this infection can be serious, it is also easy to prevent. The easiest way is to cook ground meat completely through.

The temperature of the meat should reach 160 degrees.

"If that entire ground hamburger or meatball or whatever is not completely cooked, then you can get survival of the organism and subsequent disease," says Jaykus.

"I cook it until it's not pink anymore," says shopper Lydia Modert. "We've had some experiences before with food poisoning, that type of thing, so I'm pretty careful 'cause I don't want to go through that again."

Another shopper takes even more precaution.

"It's usually well done and when I use it I always wear gloves too," says Darci Kurilko.

The meat involved has a "sell by" date of August 19. Food Lion says no other stores are involved in the recall but they are checking with the supplier to make sure.

No illnesses have been reported.

Food Lion is offering customers a full refund and has set up a toll-free hotline. The number is1-800-210-9569. Reporter: Lynda Loveland