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It can be legal to sell steaks and roasts that carry a potentially deadly strain of E. coli. But it is not legal to sell that meat if it is going to be used to make ground beef. As meat makes its way from packer to distributor to retailer, those distinctions can get lost, as Whole Foods found out in a recent recall. The natural food retailer pulled fresh ground beef from some of its stores after seven customers in Massachusetts fell ill with a strain of E. coli that has sickened people in 11 other states, the District and Canada.

