Manda Packing Company has expanded a meat product recall due to a possible listeria contamination. The company has pulled hundreds of thousands packages of roast beef, ham, turkey breast, and other meats.
The announcement was made Sunday on the Louisiana-based company's website, and includes 468,000 pounds of roast beef, ham, turkey breast, tasso pork, ham shanks, hog headcheese, corned beef, and pastrami produced between Feb. 27 and April 9.
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The original recall was issued last Wednesday due to a possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes at the Baker, La., meat packing facility.
No illnesses have been reported yet as a result of the apparent contamination.
"We are committed to work with USDA in reviewing and enhancing our food safety system so we can continue to ensure that our products are safe, wholesome and worthy of our brand name," Josh Yarborough, director of quality assurance for Manda, said in a statement over the weekend.
The products in question were shipped to retailers in Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.
According to the press release, all distributors have been notified and affected products have been removed from shelves.
If consumed, foods containing L
isteria monocytogenes can lead to a listeriosis infection that can be fatal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
According to the USDA, healthy individuals rarely contract listeriosis. Symptoms of the potentially fatal illness include high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, and nausea.
In pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, in addition to serious and sometimes fatal infections that can result in babies having weakened immune systems, the USDA reported.
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Yarborough called the recall an "ongoing effort" that is "still being investigated."
"Manda will continue to share information with you as it becomes available," the statement said. "We apologize for any inconvenience that our customers may have experienced. We are focused on doing everything we can to make this situation right."
Eighteen
recalls have been issued by the USDA since the start of 2013. With the exception of one – a California pizza product –
all of the recalls were meat products, and the majority of which were poultry.
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