Trader Joe's recalls frozen butter chicken meals over possible Listeria
Trader Joe's frozen Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice is being recalled because of possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, the company announced Saturday.
The recall will affect lots of the frozen dinners with a production date of "305 12," a coding which signifies the product was made on October 31, 2012. The company has not received any reports of illnesses from people who ate the products.
"In accordance with our stringent health and safety standards, and out of the utmost caution and care for our customers, all code dates of this product have been removed from sale and destroyed," the company said on its website.
Listeria is a bacterium that causes the illness listerosis, which primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, young children and people who have weakened immune systems. Symptoms of listeriosis include fever, muscle aches, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Some people may also experience headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pregnant women typically experience mild flu-like illnesses, but listeriosis during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery or life-threatening infections for the newborn.
Many healthy adults who ingest Listeria won't develop symptoms.
Last year, an outbreak of Listeria caused by contaminated Rocky Ford cantaloupes shipped from Jensen Farms sickened 146 people in 28 states. Thirty-three people died in the outbreak and one pregnant women had a miscarriage, according to the CDC.
According to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), nearly 5,000 pounds of Trader Joe's frozen Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice were shipped to stores in Connecticut, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia.
"FSIS is concerned that consumers may have received or purchased this product but have not yet been notified about the recall," the agency said in a statement Nov. 30.
A complete list of stores that received the product can be found on the FSIS' website.
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Earlier this year, Trader Joe's was part of an unrelated recall of its Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, which sickened 41 people in 20 states with salmonella poisoning. The peanut butter was manufactured by Sunland Inc. of Portales, N.M., one of the largest organic peanut butter producers in the country. The Food and Drug Administration shut down Sunland on Nov. 26 after an agency investigation revealed the company may have knowingly shipped contaminated products, a charge the company vehemently denies.
