010111 Cargill Adds Turkey Ham to Food RecallJanuary 7, 2001Chicago - Cargill Turkey Products said on Wednesday it added a ready-to-eat turkey product to the poultry products covered by a recall it initiated last month in response to potential bacteria contamination. The new recall involves 196,020 pounds of packaged Honeysuckle White Hickory Smoked Lean Turkey Ham produced since last May at the company's Waco, Texas, plant. That adds to the 16.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat poultry products produced in Waco that Cargill Turkey Products voluntarily recalled on December 14, citing potential contamination of the products by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Listeria can be fatal for small children, the elderly and those with weak immune systems. The bacteria can cause high fever, neck stiffness, nausea and stillbirths in pregnant women. The Arkansas turkey processor is a division of Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc., the largest privately held company in the United States. The December meat product recall was one of the largest in history. The largest was by Michigan firm Thorn Apple Valley, which in January 1999 recalled 30 million pounds of hot dogs. That surpassed the previous record of 25 million pounds of tainted ground beef recalled by Hudson Foods Inc. in 1997. US health officials said last month they were investigating four deaths, three instances of miscarriage or stillbirth and more than a dozen other cases of illness possibly linked to tainted ready-to-eat poultry products made by Cargill Turkey Products. The company said the Turkey Ham product it was adding to the recall was sold in packaged, unsliced form with each package weighing about two pounds and generally located in the fresh meat case in grocery stores. The packaging lists the facility's establishment number of P-635 in a small circle in the lower third of the package and indicates a use or freeze-by date before February 26, 2001. The product was shipped to retail outlets in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. The product also was shipped to a correctional facility in Minnesota.
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