A cluster of Salmonella illnesses in New Jersey and New York has been linked to broiled chicken livers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced late Tuesday.
As a result, Schreiber Processing Corporation of Maspeth, NY, is recalling an undetermined amount of products made with the broiled chicken livers, which appeared to be ready to eat, but were only partially cooked, the FSIS said in a news release. The products were distributed to retail stores and institutional users in Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
FSIS said it is working with state health officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the ongoing outbreak investigation. The agency did not say how many illnesses are involved in the outbreak.
UPDATE: 56 cases of Salmonella infection have been linked to the chicken livers, the New York City Health Department said Wednesday. Twelve people have been hospitalized.
According to the FSIS, the outbreak strain of Salmonella Heidelberg was isolated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Market from samples of broiled chicken livers and chopped chicken livers produced at retail. The agency said the outbreak strain does not match another strain of Salmonella Heidelberg associated with ground turkey recalled earlier this year.
It is not yet known if this strain of Salmonella Heidelberg has any drug resistance, the news release stated.
The recall involves:
— 10 lb. boxes with two, 5 lb. bags of “Meal Mart Broiled Chicken Liver; Made for Further Thermal Processing”
— 10 lb. boxes of loose-packed “Chicken Liver Broiled”
Each bag or box bears the establishment number “P-787” inside the USDA mark of inspection.
Chopped chicken liver made from these products would have been repackaged and so will not have the original packaging information.
When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS <a href="http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FSIS_Recalls
/Open_Federal_Cases/index.asp”>website. The New York City health department has posted the retail distribution list here.