pilgrim's pride.jpgOn July 20, 2011, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, a Mount Pleasant, Texas company initially issued a recall of ready-to-eat chicken products due to a possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that Pilgrim’s Pride is expanding its recall by an additional 7,072 pounds. The problem was discovered as a result of on-site internal testing at each establishment.

Originally, the recall included the following products:

  • 10 lb. boxes containing 2 5-lb bags of “Sweet Georgia Brand Fully Cooked Breaded White Chicken Nuggets Shaped Patties”
  • 30 lb. boxes containing 6 5-lb bags of “Pilgrim’s Pride Fully Cooked Grilled Chicken Breast Fillet with Rib Meat”

In addition, the company is expanding the recall to include

  • 16-lb. boxes containing 8 2-lb. bags of “Pilgrim’s Pride Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Breaded Nugget Shaped Patties with Rib meat”

The Chicken Breast Nugget Shaped Patties have a date code of 11531010 inkjetted on the box, best-by date “JUN 02 2012” and bear the establishment number “P-7091A” inside the USDA mark of inspection. Each 2-lb. bag is marked with the date code and “P-7091A.” The products were produced on June 2, 2011, and shipped to a retail chain in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

FSIS has deemed this to be a CLASS I Recall. According to FSIS, this means that there is “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”

Consumers with questions about the recall should contact the company’s representative, Cheri Schneider, at (800) 321-1470. Members of the media with questions about the recall should contact the company’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, Gary Rhodes, at (903) 434-1495. For more information about Listeria monocytogenes, visit http://www.about-listeria.com.