The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced on January 24, 2013 that a Salmonella outbreak had been traced to raw beef kibbeh served at a Macomb County restaurant in December of 2012. The beef that was used to make the kibbeh had been purchased from Jouni Meats of Sterling Heights, Michigan, which was recalling 500 pounds of potentially contaminated ground beef sold both to the restaurant and directly to consumers at the Jouni Meats store.
On March 15, 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that at least 22 people from 6 states had become ill with Salmonella infections after eating ground beef produced by Jouni Meats or another ground beef supplier, Gab Halal Foods, which was recalling ground beef due to potential contamination with Salmonella. The ground beef was sold unlabeled. It appears as though both companies sold ground beef to the same restaurant, which served a raw ground beef dish to patrons in Macomb County before they became ill. Case-patients from Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin who all ate the ground beef were counted after the restaurant-related outbreak.
Victims of Salmonella outbreaks typically experience abdominal cramping, diarrhea and fever. Salmonella infection is typically diagnosed by culturing bacteria isolated from a person's stool.