A New York meat company is recalling some 546,000 pounds of ground beef because it may be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria that has already caused one death.

The meat sold by Fairbank Farms is linked to the death of one person and the illnesses of two others in New Hampshire, according to health officials there. People have also come down with cases of E. coli-related illness in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

The ground beef was sold at Trader Joe's, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw's, BJ's, Ford Brothers and Giant stores. Each package carried the number "EST. 492" on the label. They were packaged Sept. 15-16 and may have been labeled with a sell-by date from Sept. 19 through Sept. 28.

Also, ground beef packaged under the Fairbank Farms name was distributed to stores in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. That meat was likely repackaged for sale and would likely have differing package and sell-by dates.

Symptoms of E. coli include stomach cramps that may be severe and diarrhea that may turn bloody within one to three days. E. coli can sometimes lead to complications including kidney failure. Symptoms usually show up three to four days after a person eats contaminated food, although in some cases it could take a week.

Whenever stories like this come up, it leads to the question: Should we even be eating meat at all? Read the debate on OpposingViews.com here.