The US Centers for Disease Controls has managed to find the cause of the E. coli outbreaks that have hit Michigan and Ohio at the beginning of June. According to the CDC, the source of the infection was found to be ground beef.

It seems that most of the people that have been infected have bought the ground beef from the Kroger Food Store, which is US’s largest grocery chain. Kroger immediately announced that it supports the investigations and that is will do everything possible to help tracking down the source of the tainted meat.

According to Reuters, Meghan Glynn, Kroger Food Store’s spokeswoman has said that “we purchase our ground beef from major suppliers in the industry and we are working with federal, state and local agencies to identify the supplier.”

People who have bought ground beef during Mai 31 and June 8, the period when most of the cases have been reported, are advised to throw it away. What is more, health specialists advise everyone that ground beef must be thoroughly cooked at a temperature of 160 degrees in order to make sure that it is safe to eat.

There have been at least 24 cases of E. coli infections in Michigan and Ohio since the beginning of this month, and the tests that were carried on revealed that all the cases were caused by the same strain of the virus, 0157:H7.

E. coli infections’ symptoms are diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting. Most of the infected persons get well in 15 days but there are severe cases which lead to kidney failure. It is estimated that there are about 70,000 E.coli infection cases in the US each year.