36 million pounds of ground turkey recalled due to Salmonella

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDAug 4 2011

Meat manufacturer Cargill Inc. is recalling nearly 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a California death and at least 78 other salmonella illnesses nationwide, company officials said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Class I recall, with the highest health risk, late Wednesday. All of the recalled products were produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., plant.

Among the products are “chubs” of fresh and frozen ground turkey meat, retail trays of ground turkey and ground turkey patties sold at grocery stores including Kroger, Safeway and Giant Eagle, according to company's recall list. The recall was announced by Cargill Value Added Meats Retail, a subsidiary of the Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation. The company said that some of the ground turkey was sold in supermarkets under the Honeysuckle White brand. The company said it was recalling ground turkey produced at the Arkansas plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2. All of the packages recalled include the code "Est. P-963" on the label, the USDA said. The packages were labeled with many different brands, including Cargill's Honeysuckle White.

This recall comes after the death of a Sacramento, Calif., resident tied to an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning that has sickened people in 26 states since March. At the family's request, no details about the death have been released. CDC officials earlier this week said cultures of four ground turkey samples purchased from four retail locations between March 7 and June 27 detected the outbreak strain of salmonella Heidelberg. Early information indicates that three of the samples came from a common production establishment. CDC officials would not identify that establishment, saying those cultures had not been linked to actual illnesses. The agency deferred to USDA for comment.

The company officials announced that it was suspending production of ground turkey at the Sprindale plant until it could identify the source of contamination and fix it. Steve Willardsen, president of Cargill’s turkey processing business said, “It is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products and, for anyone who did, we are truly sorry.”

Consumers are urged to return any opened or unopened packages of ground turkey items listed on the company's recall site www.cargill.com/turkey-recall. Hormel Foods, which makes the popular Jenni-O brand of ground turkey, was not contacted by USDA in connection with the outbreak, a company spokeswoman said.

One recent USDA study found that 10 percent of ground turkey samples examined tested positive for salmonella contamination. Federal testing data also shows that perhaps 80 percent of the salmonella bacteria are resistant to one or more antibiotics, said Steve Roach, a spokesman for the advocacy group Keep Antibiotics Working. “The biggest thing is salmonella is bad enough as it is, but when it becomes multi-drug-resistant, it can be more difficult to treat,” Roach said.

Health officials said even contaminated turkey meat is safe to eat if it is properly cooked, to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, with temperature confirmed by a meat thermometer. But they also urged consumers to follow good food safety practices when using ground turkey, including washing hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw meat and cleaning all cutting boards and other surfaces well. The CDC estimates that 50 million Americans each year get sick from food poisoning, including about 3,000 who die. Salmonella causes most of these cases and federal health officials say they've made virtually no progress against it. The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight hours to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product. It can be life-threatening to some with weakened immune systems.

Cargill executive Willardsen said, “Public health and the safety of consumers cannot be compromised…It is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products and, for anyone who did, we are truly sorry.”