Foster Farms Chicken Salmonella Advisory

Just a heads up! A friend mentioned a news report about an outbreak of salmonella linked to Foster Farms chicken. I was shocked to see that the Foster Farms Whole Chicken that is currently thawing out in my refrigerator is part of this advisory. I bought it at Vons in Brea, CA about 2 weeks ago.

Vons took the Foster Farms Chicken back with no issues. The manager told me that they had received information from Foster Farms that recommends cooking chicken to 170º and that the chicken will be safe to eat. Hmmm… I’ll pass.

As of today (10/8/13), Foster Farms has not issued a recall.

At least seven different strains of Salmonella Heidelberg have been tied to the outbreak, which led CDC officials on Tuesday to recall 30 staffers, including 10 who work for the agency’s PulseNet team, which monitors the electronic fingerprint of dangerous foodborne bugs. They’d been on furlough because of a government shutdown stretching into its second week. -NBC News-

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The agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has been unable to identify specific products or a specific production period for the potentially tainted chicken, but said that affected meat bears one of three establishment numbers inside a USDA inspection mark or elsewhere on the package.

The numbers are P6137, P6137A and P7632…. The Chicken was distributed to retail outlets mainly in California, Oregon and Washington, but illnesses have been reported in 18 states. Those include Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. -NBC News-

According to Foster Farms website, “No Recall is in Effect. Products are Safe to Consume if Properly Handled and Fully Cooked.”

Personally, I am not taking any chances and will be returning the chicken to Vons. Read the full article from NBC News here

“It is outrageous that Foster Farms has not issued a recall in the face of so many illnesses associated with their product,” Urvashi Rangan, toxicologist and executive director of the Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability Center, said in a statement. -LA Times-

10/9 UPDATE – Very informative article here by the Los Angeles Times

Thanks, Carolyn for the heads up!

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