546,000 pounds of ground beef has been recalled, including meat sold at Price Chopper and BJ’s stores, because of links to illnesses from E. coli bacteria in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, officials said this weekend.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the meat, sold by Fairbank Farms in Ashville, is in packages designated with “EST. 492″ inside the USDA inspection mark or on the nutrition label. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service classified the alert as a “Class 1 Recall” with a high risk to health because of a “reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death,” a media release issued Saturday said.

Price Chopper has stores in Oneonta, Cobleskill, Delhi, Sidney, Norwich and Richfield Springs. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a store in Oneonta.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure.

It can be destroyed by cooking ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and USDA and Price Chopper officials said this cooking method should always be used for consumer protection.

The Price Chopper Supermarkets network is recalling select packages of USDA ground beef with expiration dates of Sept. 16 through Oct. 5, according to a media release from the grocery chain.

Price Chopper said the varieties of ground beef in question are ground round, ground sirloin, 80 percent lean ground beef, 80 percent lean chili meat, 93 percent lean grind, 96 percent lean grind and meatloaf mix. Consumers may return recalled products for a refund, the retailer said.

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