31,000 pounds of chicken recalled for staph contamination
If you recently purchased frozen chicken, you may need to clean out your freezer. Murry’s Inc., a Pennsylvania-based food company, recalled 31,000 pounds of frozen chicken for staphylococcus aureus, also known as staph infection according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The contaminated chicken can be found in Bell & Evans gluten free chicken breast nuggets (12 ounces) and in Bell & Evans gluten free chicken breast (10.5 ounces) with the expiration date of August 9, 2015. If you have one or both of these packages in your freezer, throw them away immediately.
The contamination was discovered by the Colorado Department of Agriculture while it was conducting retail surveillance and sampling program, the press release stated. The Chief Executive Officer of Murray’s Inc., shared in an interview with PBS Newshour Weekend that the toxin was only found in one box, but they felt that a voluntary recall was still necessary. There have been no reports of illness since the recall was issued.
Staphylococcal toxins can cause illness in just thirty minutes from the time they were exposed, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The bacteria can cause foodborne illness with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. The bacteria can also result in staph infections which can cause boils and abscesses. If staph infections get into blood streams they can cause bacterial pneumonia or even death.
For more information, you can visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety website.