Portillo's recalls 3,700 lbs. of beef: Product never reached Sycamore restaurant

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State officials announced Friday Portillo's hot dog chain is voluntarily recalling 3,703 pounds of sliced roast beef after in-house testing re-vealed it might have been contaminated with listeria bacteria. Portillo's president Dick Portillo said Friday none of the beef being recalled was ever at the Portillo's restaurant in Sycamore. He also said &#8220no final product that has been shipped to any of our locations has tested positive.” According to Portillo and a press release from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, approximately 330 2.5-pound and 200 1-pound packages of the roast beef were distributed for sale in Portillo's restaurants. Each package bears the code &#8220Est. 670” inside the IDA mark of inspection, as well asone of the product codes 0912706, 0912706T and 0922706. Chris Herbert, a spokeswoman for the department, said the balance of the potentially contaminated roast beef is in the form of 10-pound packages that are opened and served at Portillo's restaurants. The beef was processed through Portillo's Addison food-processing plant on Sept. 27. Dick Portillo said tests on byproducts from the meat indicated it could be contaminated. He said this is the first time the restaurant chain has recalled a product in its 43 years of existence. The source of the potential contamination was not clear yet as of Friday, he said. The state has received no reports of anyone becoming sick after eating the Portillo's beef. Chris Rickert can be reached at crickert@daily-chronicle.com.