000377 Ball Park Hot Dogs RecalledMarch 31, 2000Washington - Some 34,500 pounds of Ball Park-brand hot dogs have been recalled by the Sara Lee Corp. because they might be contaminated with bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections. A military laboratory found listeria monocytogenes in a package of the hot dogs that had been distributed to an Army commissary, Sara Lee spokeswoman Theresa Herlevsen said Monday. No illnesses have been reported in connection with the meat. An outbreak of listeria poisoning in 1998 that killed 15 people and sickened at least 100 others was traced to meat processed at a Sara Lee plant in Zeeland, Mich. Some 15 million pounds of hot dogs and lunch meats were recalled by the company. The hot dogs involved in the latest recall were packaged Jan. 25 at a plant in Philadelphia and distributed to commissaries and retail establishments in Florida, Missouri, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland. The packages bear the code “APR03 EST 12PAB.” Listeria can cause fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea and diarrhea. Healthy people recover quickly, but listeria can cause serious, sometimes fatal, infections in children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems, and is especially dangerous for pregnant women. It can cause miscarriages and stillbirths even if the mother experiences no symptoms.
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