Recall of grilled chicken due to positive Listeria tests

 Foster Farms is recalling 40,000 lbs of grilled chicken strips due to the potential to be contaminated with Listeria.  The contamination was discovered by company testing.  No illnesses have been reported.

The grilled chicken was packaged in 3.25lb packages and shipped to Costco locations in ID, MT, UT, CO, TX, LA, CA, and Hawaii.  According to the news report - "While some of the product was set aside and held, the product subject to this recall was inadvertently shipped," it said."    Oops, that is not good.

But the Reuters article below also shoves this statement into the article - "The recall comes amid revelations that major U.S. poultry firms are administering antibiotics to their flocks far more pervasively than regulators realize, posing a potential risk to human health."

 It is a long stretch to say that antibiotic usage and post process Listeria contamination are linked.  Vegetative pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria are eliminated in the cooking process.  The contamination in the plant would be a post process addition, and from what we have seen in past cases, this contamination would be more likely to be a facility related issue rather than in incoming bird issue.

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/chicken-recall-frozen-grilled-listeria-foster-farms_n_5890416.html
Nearly 40,000 Pounds Of Foster Farms Chicken Recalled Due To Listeria ContaminationReuters
Posted: 09/26/2014 4:12 pm EDT Updated: 09/26/2014 4:59 pm EDT
SEATTLE, Sept 26 (Reuters) - California-based poultry giant Foster Farms is recalling nearly 40,000 pounds of frozen grilled chicken due to Listeria contamination, the Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

Foster Farms shipped the breast strips produced on Aug. 5 from Farmerville, Louisiana, to many U.S. states, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) representative, Benjamin Bell, said.

No illnesses have been reported, Bell said.

The company said in a statement it distributed the 3.25-pound packages to Costco locations in Oregon, Alaska, Washington state, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, California and Hawaii, and to Stater Brothers in California.

All retailers have been notified and have withdrawn product from distribution, it said.

The contamination in a sample of the products was discovered "during the company's routine in-plant inspection," FSIS said in a statement announcing the recall on Thursday.

"While some of the product was set aside and held, the product subject to this recall was inadvertently shipped," it said.

The recall comes amid revelations that major U.S. poultry firms are administering antibiotics to their flocks far more pervasively than regulators realize, posing a potential risk to human health.

The chicken affected by the recall says on the packaging "P-33901" and has a "Best by Date" of Aug. 5, 2015, the statement said.

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious bacterial infection that may cause fever, muscle aches, headache, convulsions and diarrhea, among other ailments, FSIS said. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Sandra Maler)