Jennie-O Turkey Stores Sales of Barron, Wis. has issued a recall of more than 91,000 pounds of ground turkey products that may be associated with the nationwide Salmonella outbreak. And there may be recalls from other companies coming.
That’s because the outbreak strain has turned up in so many places the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is worried it may be an industry-wide problem. So far, health officials have found the outbreak strain of Salmonella Reading in samples from live turkeys in several states, in raw turkey products collected from ill people’s homes, in product samples from 22 different slaughterhouses and in samples from seven different processing facilities. They also identified the strain in samples from raw turkey pet food in Minnesota, where a raw turkey pet food recall was issued earlier this year.
During interviews with health officials, people sickened in this outbreak reported eating a variety of turkey products including whole, turkeys, turkey parts and ground turkey before they became ill. These products were sold under a number of different brands names and at several different grocery stores.
The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA), the federal agency charged with safeguarding the nation’s supply of commercial meat, poultry, and egg products, posted the Jennie-O recall on its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) website last night. Normally, the USDA FSIS just posts the recalls prepared by the company involved. But yesterday it added an “Editor’s note” asking readers to note that its investigation was ongoing and “and additional product from other companies may also be recalled.”
Jennie-O Ground Turkey Recall
The products included in this recall, which were all produced on September 11, 2018, and distributed nationwide, bear the establishment number “P-190” inside the USDA mark of inspection. They are:
- 1-lb. packages of “Jennie-O GROUND TURKEY 93% LEAN | 7% FAT” with “Use by” dates of 10/01/2018 and 10/02/2018.
- 1-lb. packages of “Jennie-O TACO SEASONED GROUND TURKEY” with a “Use by” date of 10/02/2018.
- 1-lb. packages of “Jennie-O GROUND TURKEY 85% LEAN | 15% FAT” with a “Use by” date of 10/02/2018.
- 1-lb. packages of “Jennie-O ITALIAN SEASONED GROUND TURKEY” with a “Use by” date of 10/02/2018.
Health officials say the Salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey products has sickened 164 people in 35 states. Sixty-three people got so sick they needed to be hospitalized. One young girl developed osteomyelitis, a serious and painful bone infection. One person from California has died.
Six of the people sickened in this outbreak didn’t eat turkey at all. Three of them live households where raw turkey pet food was served to pets. And three of them worked at a turkey-processing facility or lived with someone who did. Three of them fed their pets
The outbreak began a year ago, on November 20, 2017, and was announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 19, 2018 after health officials, using their national subtyping network of bacterial DNA fingerprints, noticed that several people had been sickened by the same strain of Salmonella Reading.
The Salmonella attorneys at Pritzker Hageman law firm are representing several people sickened in this outbreak, including the young girl who developed osteomyelitis. To contact our lawyers and request a free consultation about a Salmonella lawsuit, call 1 (888) 377-8900 (toll-free) or use this online form.