The families of two children who fell ill from E. coli food poisoning have filed lawsuits against two meat suppliers who were forced to issue ground beef recalls for more than half a million pounds of meat last week.

The food poisoning lawsuits were filed Tuesday in Plymouth County Superior Court in Massachusetts against South Shore Meats Inc. and Fairbank Farms, Inc. by the parents of 12-year old Andrea Munro and 11-year-old Austin Richmond of Lincoln. Both children were hospitalized and tested positive for E. coli poisoning after eating ground beef products.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that there are two unrelated E. coli outbreaks involving meat that is suspected to be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. At least 28 cases of E. coli food poisoning can be traced to 545,699 pounds of contaminated ground beef recalled by Fairbank Farms on October 31. At least 20 children from Rhode Island are known to have fallen ill after consuming tainted meat from South Shore Meats Inc., which recalled about 1,000 pounds of ground beef in late October as well.