The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that Foster Farms has recalled about 40,000 pounds of Chicken Breast Grilled Strips over fears of Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause a bacterial infection in humans called Listeriosis. FSIS has issued a warning statement on Thursday, Sept. 25, informing the public that Listeriosis may cause muscle aches, fever, headache, confusion, stiff neck and convulsions that are sometimes preceded by gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea.
Listeriosis can be very harmful for pregnant women and may result in miscarriages, premature delivery, stillbirths or infection to a newborn baby. Listeriosis can also lead to serious infections in people with weak a immune system.
The FSIS confirms that the Foster Farms product in question is the 3.5 pounds plastic resealable bags of frozen Chicken Breast Grilled Strips, which were produced on Aug. 5 this year. The product packaging of the frozen chicken contains an establishment number of P-33901 and the products have a "Best by Date of 08-05-15." The food products were sent to retail warehouses located in Washington, California, Utah and Texas, Utah.
The possible Listeria contamination was detected during a routine inspection by the company. All retailers have also been notified to take off the infected food product from their shelves. However, FSIS believes that some infected products may have made their way to consumers.
"While some of the product was set aside and held, the product subject to this recall was inadvertently shipped. FSIS and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products," per the FSIS warning statement.
The latest recall comes amid revelations that poultry chicken are administered with high antibiotics doses to fight various disease and at the same time make them grow faster. However, when the antibiotic-fed poultry chicken is consumed by humans it develops antibiotic resistance in humans.
FSIS revealed that Listeriosis can be treated with the help of antibiotics and the government agency suggests that people who have consumed contaminated food and experience symptoms should get medical attention as soon as possible. Officials suggest that they have not received any reports of illness due to the consumption of the contaminated chicken.
