Fearing that the potentially deadly E. coli bacterium could spread like wildfire, a Colorado company is voluntarily expanding its recall of meat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last Wednesday, JBS Swift Beef Company, of Greeley, Colo., recalled more than 41,000 pounds of meat. On Sunday, the company broadened that to include an additional 380,000 pounds of beef products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced “an ongoing investigation into 24 illnesses in multiple states, of which at least 18 appear to be associated.” The good news, according to USDA spokesman Brian Mabery, is that no deaths have been reported so far. “Each of our customers will be personally informed of this recall by phone,” A JBS spokesman told CNN, declining to identify who those customers were. Sarah Klein, a staff attorney for the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, was incredulous. “That’s ridiculous!” she said. “JBS should be able to say who they sold meat to, and those companies should be able to say, ‘These are the products we created from them.’ ” The recall underscores the need for “a comprehensive animal identification system” that would allow meat suppliers to trace their products to an individual ranch, she told CNN.