LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Hudson Foods Inc. said it will sell a Nebraska hamburger plant linked to an E. coli outbreak if it can't replace Burger King as its main ground beef customer.
The nation's second-largest fast-food chain said this weekend it would stop buying Hudson meat even though there was no indication it received tainted meat.
Burger King buys more than half of the plant's beef. Hudson opened the Columbus, Neb., plant in 1995 to process beef for the chain.
Wal-Mart said Monday it was committed to buying ground beef from the plant. Boston Market has also pledged to buy more meat, but the $16 million plant needs a bigger buyer, said Tom Reynolds, Hudson's treasurer.
An outbreak of possible E. coli contamination was reported in Colorado in mid-August and traced to the Columbus plant. Hudson said it appears the contamination started with one of its suppliers, not inside the plant.
The company recalled 20,000 pounds of beef Aug. 12. A week later, the recall reached 25 million -- the nation's largest ever. E. coli is a potentially deadly bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration.
The recall forced about 1,650 Burger Kings in 28 states -- a quarter of the chain's U.S. restaurants -- to serve only chicken, ham and fish, even BLT's, for a day or two.
Burger King began advertising in newspapers around the country Monday in an attempt to assure customers that its beef is safe.
Before being shut down by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week, the Hudson plant was processing between 2 million and 2.5 million pounds of ground beef a week, Reynolds said.
Robert Udowitz, a Hudson spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the company wants its 230 Columbus employees to keep their jobs, and selling the plant would be one way to ensure that.
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