Chicken of the Sea Tuna Recall: 107K Cans Pulled for Possible Contamination

Chicken of the Sea is among three labels of tuna under a growing recall after equipment malfunctioning may have led to undercooked meat, reports claim.

Tri-Union Seafoods LLC issued the voluntary recall of 107,000 five-ounce cans (2,745 cases) of chunk light tuna in oil and chunk light tuna in water under the Chicken of the Sea brand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday. Bumble Bee Foods and H-E-B have also announced recalls.

There have been no reported illnesses, the FDA said, but the precautionary recall was issued after an equipment malfunction was uncovered during a routine inspection. The potentially deadly problem related to the commercial sterilization process could lead to contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens.

"The health and safety of our consumers is our number one priority. As soon as we discovered the issue, we took immediate steps to initiate this voluntary recall, alerting our retail customers that received the product and instructing them to remove it from store shelves," Shue Wing Chan, president of Tri-Union Seafoods LLC, said in a statement.

The tuna in question was sold between Feb. 10 and March 16. Details about the recall are available on the FDA website. Consumers may return the tuna to the stores for a full refund.

Bumble Bee Foods recently issued a recall of 31,579 cases of tuna produced in February 2016. That recall, which also involves five-ounce cans of chunk light tuna, is related because Bumble Bee’s cans were produced in a Chicken of the Seas facility in Georgia, Fox News reported.

H-E-B also issued a recall of chunk light tuna under the Hill Country Fare brand related to the incident, the FDA said. The H-E-B recall covers 10,752 5-ounce cans of tuna.

"During a routine inspection, it was discovered there was a malfunction in a machinery part. That part has been replaced, and the proper functionality of the machine verified," John DeBeer, vice president of Quality and Compliance for Chicken of the Sea, said, according to CNN.

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