An Oklahoma facility has recalled nearly 12 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef and poultry due to possible listeria contamination, the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced. Initially, nearly 10 million pounds of meat were recalled, but that number has since grown as more information is revealed.
The possibly contaminated food — which was distributed by BrucePac, an Oregon-based company with a processing facility in Durant, Oklahoma — was distributed to restaurants, schools, chainstores and more. Food items from well-known brands, such as Trader Joe’s, Kroger, 7-Eleven, Amazon Kitchen and more, have been added to the recall.
A product list that contains various types of meat was previously shared, but dozens of additional products and label information has since been added. It contains ready-to-eat burritos, pastas, salads, various rice meals and more. These items were sold at Walmart, Trader Joe’s and various other chain stores.
“Consumers are urged to carefully review the information,” the FSIS added to their announcement.
The full product list, which spans more than 300 pages, can be found here. Approximately 9,986,245 pounds of ready-to-eat meat was initially recalled, but that number has since grown to 11,765,285 pounds as additional products have been added to the list. At this time, there have been no reports of illness in connection with the recall.
In a press release from BrucePac, the company stated, “Because we sell to other companies who resell, repackage or use our products as ingredients in other foods, we do not have a list of retail products that contain our recalled items.”
The company urges consumers to instead visit the FSIS website for updated product lists “or call the company on the packaging or the retail location from which you purchased the products,” if you believe you may have purchased a contaminated product.
The FSIS urges everyone to check if they have any of the listed products and throw them away immediately or return them to where they were purchased from.
Read more: The Wave of Recalls, Explained
What is listeria?
Listeria is a bacteria that can cause listeriosis, a serious foodborne illness. Pregnant women and the elderly are at an increased risk of having serious symptoms in connection with the illness.
Symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion and gastrointestinal distress. For high-risk individuals, the illness can cause death. According to the Food and Drug Administration, pregnant women are 10 to 13 times more likely to get listeriosis than others.
