Rome Packing Co. of East Providence, RI, has issued a voluntary recall of Ocean’s Catch brand minced crab meat after routine product sampling by the company determined that some of the finished products may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

The recalled products are packaged in round plastic containers (tub with snap-on lid), sold as refrigerated, and include:

6-ounce Ocean’s Catch Crab Meat:

  • lot number 101366 with a sell-by date before 5/14/14;
  • lot number 101507 with a sell-by date before 5/20/14;
  • lot number 101540 with a sell-by date before 5/21/14;

8-ounce Ocean’s Catch All Natural Jonah Crab Combo Meat:

  • lot number 101372 with a sell-by date before 5/14/14;
  • lot number 101432 with a sell-by date before 5/19/14;
  • lot number 101474 with a sell-by date before 5/20/14;

16-ounce Ocean’s Catch All Natural Jonah Crab Combo Meat:

  • lot number 101372 with a sell-by date before 5/14/14;
  • lot number 101391 with a sell-by date before 5/16/14;
  • lot number 101407 with a sell-by date before 5/16/14;
  • lot number 101432 with a sell-by date before 5/19/14;
  • lot number 101474 with a sell-by date before 5/20/14;
  • lot number 101539 with a sell-by date before 5/21/14.

The products are distributed nationwide to retail stores including, but not limited to: Shaws Supermarkets, Market Basket and Dave’s Market. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them and should return them to the place of purchase for a refund or discard them.

Rome Packing is cooperating with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Rhode Island Department of Health investigation and has initiated corrective action in their processing plant to prevent this from occurring.

If you ate any of the affected product and experienced illness as a result, please contact your healthcare provider and/or notify your local health department so tests can be conducted on either food or human samples and results can be reported to the appropriate public health agencies.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.