Montana Wagyu Beef E. coli Outbreak sickened visitors from Canada, Oregon, Arizona and perhaps other locations.

Our investigation thus far shows of the 14 illnesses, 11 are Montana residents, 1 Canadian, 1 Oregon and 1 Arizona (death). At this time it is likely that other states will report illnesses of people that visited Flathead County in late June through mid-July an who ate at one of the five restaurants.

On July 25^th, the Flathead City-County Health Department (FCCHD) and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) received confirmatory testing results of clinical and food samples verifying ground beef as the exposure of concern. Specifically, the source of the outbreak was wagyu beef from one lot number (1400). All cases reported eating undercooked or made-to-order burgers made with wagyu beef at one of multiple restaurants in Flathead County. The last known date of consumption was July 14, 2024.

Lower Valley Processing products are the source of the outbreak and were labeled with “Lower Valley Processing, Co.,” establishment number “EST. 007” inside the Montana mark of inspection on the product labels, and lot numbers 1398, 1399 and 1400.  However, documents reviewed also implicate Range MT as the source of the Wagyu beef.

All potentially affected products have been removed from the marketplace by public health officials, the Department of Livestock and Lower Valley Processing. Some products may have been sold direct to consumers prior to discovery of potential contamination.  

The following restaurants are associated with the 14 cases of reported illness in this outbreak: Gunsight Saloon; Hops Downtown Grill; Tamarack Brewing Company; the Lodge at Whitefish Lake; and Harbor Grille. Furthermore, based on information provided through case investigation, one individual has died after exposure to wagyu beef consumed at Harbor Grille. 

Flathead County and Glacier National Park of tourist destinations from all over the U.S. if not the world. The larger question is whether visitors to Kallispell are Wagyu burgers and then went home somewhere in the U.S. or the world? So, how large and how widespread is the Montana E. coli outbreak?

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.