More than 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey are being voluntarily recalled by food giant Cargill Inc. because of the possibility of salmonella contamination.
Health authorities say the poultry could be contaminated with Salmonella Heidelberg, a strain of salmonella that killed a California man and caused the illness of 79 others. Cargill said the ground turkey was produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., facility between Feb. 20 and Aug. 2. Production at the plant has been suspended.
"Given our concern for what has happened, and our desire to do what is right for our consumers and customers, we are voluntarily removing our ground turkey products from the marketplace," Steve Willardsen, president of Cargill's turkey processing business, said in a statement.
He said Wednesday that production of ground turkey will not start up again at the plant "until the source can be pinpointed and actions to address it are taken."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said an investigation "determined that there is a link between the Cargill ground turkey products and the illness outbreak." The recalled products have the number P-963 inside the USDA inspection mark.
"This is, if not the largest, one of the largest class-one food recalls to happen in U.S. history," said William D. Marler, a Seattle attorney who specializes in food safety litigation. A class-one recall involves a health hazard that has a reasonable probability of causing health problems or death.
TVNL Comment: Check out Wikipedia entries about years of Cargill's human rights violations that include child trafficking, use of child labor, food contamination, and deforestation.
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