Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Kroger grocery company expanded its voluntary recall of some ground beef products Wednesday.  That affects stores in Oregon including Fred Meyer and QFC, because Kroger is their parent company.

Kroger says there is an investigation underway to see if its beef is linked with E Coli illnesses in the Midwest. Fred Meyer was not required to recall its beef.

But Melinda Merrill with Fred Meyer says the upcoming July Fourth holiday played a role.

Melinda Merrill: “It's one of our busiest weekends of the year and one of the busiest weekends for ground beef - so that's part of the reason why we took anything off the shelves that had potential problems."

The recall includes ground beef in foam tray packages wrapped in cellophane or purchased from a service counter at all Fred Meyer and QFC stores between May 21-July 5.

It also involves ground beef under the "Private Selection Natural" label. The "sell-by" dates on that product were listed as July 11 through July 21.