Washington - Sara Lee Corp. repudiated USDA estimates and reiterated that it expects to retrieve 15 million pounds of contaminated meat linked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to an outbreak of listeriosis.
USDA sources said that agency officials estimate the hot dog and luncheon meat recall from Bil Mar Foods, a division of Sara Lee, could be as big as 35 million pounds, making it the largest food recall in U.S. history.
“The number they are citing is not accurate,” Theresa Herlevsen, executive director of communications at Sara Lee, said. Herlevsen said the USDA figure was based on total production at the Zeeland, Mich., plant but not all of the plant's products are subject to the recall.
Sara Lee expects to retrieve 15 million pounds of meat from grocery stores and others, Herlevsen repeated, but the company has no way of estimating the amount of food that is being recalled due to the uncertainty of production dates involved.
“We certainly will know what the number is of how much we bought back,” Herlevsen said.
Bil Mar announced in December that it was recalling hot dogs and luncheon meat produced at its Zeeland plant over sixth months. The meat had been linked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to an outbreak of listeriosis, a condition cause by deadly Listeria bacteria.
The CDC said that since August, 12 people have died, three women have had miscarriages and at least 79 people in 17 states have been sickened by Listeria bacteria.
Listeria bacteria is found in soil and in water, and causes a condition called listeriosis, which is not normally contracted by healthy people.
The most common symptoms are meningitis, which has symptoms including high fever, severe headaches, neck stiffness and nausea. Listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, and can be fatal for those with weakened immune systems, including infants, the elderly or people with chronic diseases.
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