A sample of ground turkey from Cargill’s Sept. 11 recall of 185,000 pounds of ground turkey tested positive for the Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak strain (XbaI PFGE pattern 58/BlnI pattern 76), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced late Tuesday.
In updating the earlier recall notice with confirmation of the outbreak strain, FSIS said lab results from the sample taken on Aug. 24 also indicate the isolate is resistant to ampicillin, gentamicin, streptomycin and tetracycline.
The Sept. 11 recall was in addition to Cargill’s Aug. 3 recall of 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced over five months at the company’s Springdale, Ark. plant.
The ground turkey is implicated in an outbreak that as of Sept. 14 had infected 119 people in 32 states with Salmonella Heidelberg, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
