Food Company recalls 8.5m pounds of Chicken products over likely listeria bacteria

*The meat producer says recall of the affected chicken products considered the largest in the United States for listeria bacteria since 2016 were distributed to food service and retail consumers across the country and Puerto Rico

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

Due to likely exposure to listeria monocytogenes, harmful bacteria, Tyson Foods Incorporated, in the United States (US), is recalling frozen, fully cooked chicken products as a precaution to protect the wellbeing of consumers in the country as well as in Puerto Rico.

Tyson Foods said it is recalling about 8.5 million pounds of frozen, fully cooked chicken on precaution because of potential exposure to listeria bacteria.

ConsumerConnect gathered the current recall make it the largest of such exercises in five years amid increasing demand for poultry products in the country.

Quoting the US Government data, report stated that this recall is the largest for listeria since 2016, when more than 47 million pounds were affected.

The data doesn’t yet include 2020-2021, report said.

The biggest US meat company by sales was working with the US Department of Agriculture on the recall for the affected food products that were produced at a plant in Dexter, Missouri, between December 26, 2020, and April 13, it said in a statement.

The company noted that the affected chicken products were distributed to food service and retail consumers nationwide as well as Puerto Rico.

Tyson’s statement said: “While there is no conclusive evidence that the products were contaminated at the time of shipment, the voluntary recall is being initiated out of an abundance of caution.”

It was also gathered that the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service found evidence linking listeria to precooked chicken at Tyson after an investigation detected three cases of illnesses from the pathogenic bacteria, including one death, between April 6 and June 5, 2021.

The inspection service said: “During routine sample collection, FSIS collected two precooked chicken samples from two establishments that are closely related genetically to Listeria monocytogenes from ill people.

“One of the samples was collected at Tyson Foods.”