10 million pounds of chicken and beef recalled nationwide over listeria concerns Expanded by a further £1.7 million – Federal authorities say meat delivered to school cafeterias may be contaminated.
To make matters worse, a late Tuesday notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture increased the size of the recall to a staggering 11.7 million pounds and did not include a list of potentially affected schools.
“School distribution lists are not available at this time,” the Department of Agriculture said in a statement on its website regarding the recall, which is linked to Oklahoma-based meat processing giant Bruce Pack.
Officials close to the agency said the expansion of recalls is not just due to the addition of schools. The USDA also expanded the production period covered by the recall to include meat produced from the previous June 19 start date to May 31, officials said. The period is extended until October 8th.
A USDA spokesperson said the agency is compiling a list of school districts that may be affected.
The warning comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture struggles to respond to the second major listeria recall in months, leaving parents confused.
“The Department of Agriculture wants certainty. [even if] It’s scaring the public,” James Marsden, a food safety consultant and former adviser to the Food Safety Authority, told the Post.
Marsden said the expanded recall and lack of information to schools may be related to a lack of proper record-keeping by the Durant, Oklahoma-based Blues Pack.
“Recalls typically start small and grow many times over, because the company doesn't have the records necessary to show that the product should be excluded from the recall,” Marsden said. Because there isn't.”
School risk disclosure comes after the Department of Agriculture last week revealed a £10 million recall without specifying which brands or retailers would be affected, instead making it difficult if not impossible for shoppers to understand. This follows confusion after the company published a list of product codes and abbreviations.
According to U.S. regulators, the USDA updated its list this week to include frozen dinners and raw salads from major grocery chains such as Walmart, Target, Trader Joe's, Kroger and Publix. Made clear.
Experts say food packages leaving factories typically have barcodes on them to identify which line the food was produced on, when it was produced, and where it went afterward. That's what it means.
The BrucePac recall has not resulted in any known illnesses to date. “However, the disease may be occurring in multiple states, and health officials have not yet connected the epidemiological dots,” said food safety attorney Bill Mahler.
Food safety experts say Listeria monocytogenes has an incubation period of three to 70 days, and even a mild Listeria infection can cause a miscarriage in a pregnant woman.
In the Blue Pack situation, many of the packaged foods were frozen dinners and ready-made salads, so consumers may have stored some of the potentially contaminated products in their refrigerators or freezers.
One reassuring fact, Marsden noted, is that listeria can survive in frozen foods, but the process of heating the food often kills the bacteria.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture is conducting an internal investigation into Boar's Head, which has racked up dozens of inspection report violations over several years, and the Office of Inspector General is also conducting an investigation into the agency. admitted. Tuesday.
“The Department of Agriculture is treading very carefully,” Marsden said. “They're under the microscope and there's a lot of pressure to get it right because of the boar's head.”
More than 7 million pounds of Boar's Head products were pulled from store shelves in July after 10 people died and dozens were hospitalized due to the Listeria common cold.
