Several national grocers and hundreds of schools around the country received BrucePac’s recalled ready-to-eat meat and poultry, according to federal regulators.
BrucePac expanded its recall earlier this month to include nearly 12 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry that may be tainted with listeria.
The original recall was initiated on Oct. 9 after the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the Department of Agriculture, reported that the products tested positive for listeria monocytogenes during a routine inspection.
MEAL KITS WITH CHICKEN RECALLED OVER LISTERIA CONCERNS
The agency subsequently released a list of retail locations, and a preliminary list of schools that received the products.
The six-page preliminary list of schools includes institutions in over a dozen states.
“The products that went to these schools were not part of USDA’s National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs; schools also purchase food directly from other vendors,” the agency said in its latest update.
Meanwhile, its list of impacted stores nationwide is more than 1,000 pages long. The biggest national chains on the retail list include Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Sprouts Farmers Market, Trader Joe’s and Albertsons. It also includes companies under the Albertsons banner, such as Safeway.
FSIS said it will continue to update its school and retail product list as it receives more information.
FSIS has simultaneously been updating a now 372-page document of all the product labels affected by the recall. This includes hundreds of different items that may contain contaminated meat.
Walmart told FOX Business that it has placed a sales restriction on the products and removed them from affected stores and clubs. It is also working with the supplier to investigate the matter.
FOX Business reached out to BrucePac, Sam’s Club, Target, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, and Albertsons for comment.
Other food manufacturers such as Dakota Tom’s Sandwiches and Reser’s Fine Foods have recalled certain products that include meat supplied by BrucePac.
FSIS’ investigation identified BrucePac RTE chicken as the source of the bacteria, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and people with weakened immune systems.
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According to the FDA, healthy individuals might only have short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
In pregnant women, a listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, the FDA said.
