Madison, WI - Philip Morris Cos. Inc.'s Oscar Mayer Foods unit said it had voluntarily recalled two types of luncheon meat after U.S. Department of Agriculture tests discovered Listeria bacteria in samples of one of the meats.
The recall is at least the fourth in the United States related to Listeria since October, with at least nine deaths linked to the bacterium.
There has been one report of potential illness linked to the Oscar Mayer Club Sandwich Variety-Pak product, but no deaths, Oscar Mayer said Friday.
The recall includes the nine-ounce Oscar Mayer Club Sandwich Variety-Pak sliced luncheon meats and 10-ounce Oscar Mayer All American Variety-Pak sliced luncheon meats. The recall is only for packages with the JAN 12 expiration date in the upper left-hand corner on the back of the package, Oscar Mayer said.
No other Oscar Mayer products are affected, the company said.
The 28,313 pounds of meat in the Oscar Mayer recall should already be off store shelves, because the products are now past their shelf life, the company said.
The products were distributed nationwide and also to Singapore, Bermuda, Aruba, St. Maarten, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the USDA said.
The U.S. Agriculture Department said that so far it did not believe that this case of Listeria was linked to an outbreak being investigated by the department and the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
On Thursday, the CDC said the deaths of nine adults and three unborn children had been linked to hot dogs and possibly delicatessen meats produced by Bil Mar Foods, a division of Sara Lee Corp. .
"At this point FSIS (the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service) has no evidence linking this product to the nationwide listeriosis outbreak, which is still under joint FSIS and CDC investigation,” the department said in a statement on the Oscar Mayer recall.
The disease listeriosis, caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, affects primarily pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems, the CDC said. About 1,850 people become seriously ill with the disease in the United States each year and 425 of these die, the CDC said.
Besides the Bil Mar recall, voluntary recalls of meats have also been conducted in recent months by food processor Hormel Foods Corp. and grocery store chain Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. .
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
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