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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Co-op dumped an entire supply of fresh range-fed beef yesterday in response to a health warning from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Even though the warning specifies range-fed lean ground beef from the Co-op purchased between Feb. 8 and March 10 may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, Co-op general manager Ben Walker decided to dump absolutely all fresh beef products recently shipped up from the same company, Prairie Heritage.

"To be on the safe side, we removed all of that product, and everything they make," Walker told Yellowknifer yesterday morning. "We removed all your steaks, your roasts, although Health Canada said we didn't have to do that."

Originating from Alberta, the specific ground beef product affected is not a big seller, Walker said.

"It's an organic-type beef, with no pesticides, free-range," he said. "It's supposed to be better and healthier for you."

Food contaminated with the bacteria can be "potentially life-threatening," the food inspection agency's advisory stated, causing symptoms such as severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea.

"Some people may have seizures or strokes and some may need blood transfusions and kidney dialysis," the public warning released yesterday states. "In severe cases of illness, people may die."

Dr. Cindy Orlaw, the NWT's chief medical officer, said there have been no cases of E. coli poisoning reported to her office, and none found across the NWT or Canada relating to this warning. The Department of Health and Social Services issued an advisory on the contamination yesterday afternoon as a precaution, she said.

"It's just another way to remember you should always wash your hands, cook hamburger at a high temperature, and make sure when you're preparing food that the food counters are always cleaned on a regular basis," Orlaw said.

Sold in packages of up to two pounds, the product is only potentially hazardous to health if eaten raw or rare.

Walker said the food inspection agency informed the Co-op yesterday that their most recent shipment of the product was unsafe - not all of that purchased from Feb. 8 to March 10 as stated in the public advisory. The manager said he didn't understand why the advisory covered such a wide period. The Co-op's last shipment came through this week, he said.

About five kilograms of that shipment had been sold to "eight to 10 customers," said Walker. Co-op has been selling the free-range product in its organic line for nine months. "We don't sell it every week, only when we get it."

The Co-op product is the only one listed for the NWT.

One Co-op customer, who did not wish to be identified, called Yellowknifer to say she was worried she had bought some of the contaminated product, and was upset the supermarket could not give more details.

After hearing about the health warning, she called the Co-op to ask for details on the product. A customer agent answering her call "couldn't tell me anything," the woman said. "She said 'it's only lean ground beef so throw out whatever you have.'"

"I said, 'we've already eaten everything we've had for the last month.'"

"You know how we're all floating around with a bit of the stomach flu right now? That's pretty perplexing, isn't it? It's really disconcerting to me that we haven't known about this until after the fact. That's a lot of people in this community."

Some shoppers at the Co-op yesterday were not concerned about possible contamination, however.

"I think if you're shopping at a reputable establishment and they handle it properly, there shouldn't be any problem," said Colleen Greig, 51. "And if you handle it properly at home, store it properly and cook it properly, that helps to alleviate the dangers, I guess."

Frequent Co-op shopper Art Young, 52, agreed, and said food poisoning can be a danger at any given supermarket across the country.

"Are you going to keep walking on eggshells the rest of your life because something's off?" he said.

- with files from Mike W. Bryant