The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 3, 2021, announced a recall of cooked chicken meat produced by Tyson Foods due to a listeria outbreak. The meat can be found in products sold by multiple brands, including Tyson, Jet’s Pizza, Casey’s General Store, Marco’s Pizza, and Little Caesars, according to the CDC. The affected chicken was produced between Dec. 26, 2020, and April 13, 2021.
According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service, Tyson is recalling 8.5 million pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken. Food safety regulators and public health officials were notified in June 2021 of two people who became ill with listeriosis, which lead to the discoveries of three previous cases, which included one death, between April 6 and June 5, 2021.
Per the CDC, the impacted products bear the establishment number “EST. P-7089" which can be found on the product bag or inside the USDA mark of inspection. A complete list of recalled products can be found by clicking here. The CDC instructs consumers not to eat any recalled products, and offers instructions on how to clean your refrigerator in the event that you purchased recalled chicken, because listeria can both survive in the fridge and spread to other foods.
Illness from listeria is caused by bacteria that can produce a variety of symptoms, including fever, muscle aches, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and diarrhea. People at highest risk from the illness are pregnant women and their newborns, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.