Pizza recall

With the recent outbreak in our area of E. coli infections, November is already bringing bad news for pizza lovers.

General Mills, the maker of Totino's and Jeno's brand frozen pizzas, announced a voluntary recall of millions of its pepperoni-containing products in the wake of a multi-state outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections.

Public health officials along with company officials are asking consumers to throw away any of the following affected pizzas they may have purchased:

Totino's Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Pepperoni, 10.2 oz.;
Totino's Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Classic Pepperoni, 10.2 oz.;
Totino's Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Pepperoni Trio, 10.2 oz.;
Totino's Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Three Meat Sausage, Canadian Style Bacon & Pepperoni, 10.5 oz.;
Totino's Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Combination Sausage & Pepperoni, 10.7 oz.;
Totino's Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Supreme Sausage & Pepperoni with Green Peppers & Onions, 10.9 oz.;
Jeno's Crisp 'n Tasty Pizza, Pepperoni, 6.8 oz.;
Jeno's Crisp 'n Tasty Pizza, Combination Sausage and Pepperoni, 7.0 oz.; and
Jeno's Crisp 'n Tasty Pizza, Supreme Sausage and Pepperoni With Green Peppers and Onion, 7.2 oz.

According to a Nov. 2 General Mills news release, the company has recalled all frozen pepperoni pizzas produced at its Wellston, Ohio, plant. This includes more than 120 million pizzas that have been distributed since the beginning of July.

Public health investigators in Tennessee and elsewhere have linked a growing number of people infected with E. coli O157:H7 to pizzas produced at the Ohio plant.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as other agencies are working with General Mills to identify the source of the problem.

As of last week, at least 21 lab-confirmed cases of E. coli infection have been identified in 10 states: Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

If your pizza craving is huge, consumers can request a product replacement by clipping the universal product code, or UPC, symbol from each pizza box and sending those UPCs, along with their name and address information to:

Totino's/Jeno's
P.O. Box 200 - Pizza
Minneapolis, MN 55440-0200

Other questions about the recall can directed to General Mills at (800) 949-9055. I am not sure this includes attorneys.