Cargill Value Added Meats Retail is recalling about 36 million pounds of frozen and fresh ground turkey products that were produced at its facility at Springdale Ark. The recalled products were produced from February 20th, 2011 up to and including August 2nd, 2011. The recalled turkey products have been linked to a nationwide outbreak of salmonellosis (salmonella sickness). This is one of the largest meat recalls ever made.

Cargill says all of the packages involved in this recall have the code “Est. P-963” on the label. The affected products can come in several different types of brand packaging, including Cargill’s Honeysuckle White.

This latest salmonella outbreak made 76 people ill in 26 states. Infected people ranged from 1 to 88 years of age. Last Tuesday, California health officials announced that one person in Sacramento County died, apparently from consuming contaminated turkey meat.

This particular strain, known as Salmonella Heidelberg is resistant to several commonly prescribed antibiotics.

The company says this recall came about after it carried out its own internal investigation, and also due to CDC data that became available on August 1st. Its Springdale, Arkansas turkey processing facility has had production suspended until it can determine where the Salmonella Heidelberg came from. Cargill’s three other turkey processing facilities in the USA have not been affected.

Steve Willardsen, president of Cargill’s turkey processing business, said:

“While facts continue to be gathered, and currently there is no conclusive answer regarding the source of Salmonella Heidelberg contamination, given our concern for what has happened, and our desire to do what is right for our consumers and customers, we are voluntarily removing our ground turkey products from the marketplace. Additionally, we have suspended ground turkey production at our Arkansas facility until the source can be pinpointed and actions to address it are taken.

Public health and the safety of consumers cannot be compromised. It is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products and, for anyone who did, we are truly sorry. We go to great lengths to ensure the food we produce is safe and we fully understand that people expect to be able to consume safe food, each serving, every time.

Suspending production until we can determine the source of the Salmonella Heidelberg at our Arkansas facility, and take corrective action, is the right thing to do. We are closely examining every aspect of our production process and have identified enhancements to our procedures in our efforts to ensure safe food. Eliminating food borne illness is always our goal.”

Cargill says it is in touch with its customers, making sure they know which ground turkey products are being recalled.

If you have bought any of the recalled turkey products you should return it to the shop. You can see a list of affected products at www.cargill.com/turkey-recall.

Cargill Value Added Meats Retail is part of the Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation. It is the third-largest turkey processor in the USA.

According to the CDC, one in every six Americans gets sick each year from eating contaminated food. Foodborne illnesses are estimated to cause about 3,000 deaths each year in the USA.

Written by Christian Nordqvist