Chicken recall issued over concerns of listeria in sandwiches, salads sold across US, Canada

Georgia food producer Tip Top Poultry is recalling an undetermined amount of ready-to-eat chicken products including sandwiches, salads, wraps and other dishes for possible contamination with listeria.

The frozen, diced and shredded chicken products were made between Jan. 21, 2019, and Sept. 24, 2019, at the company’s Rockmart, Georgia, cooking facility, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

An undetermined amount of the products were sold across the U.S. and in Canada at retailers including Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Giant, Dillons, IGA, Food 4 Less, Piggly Wiggly and Redners Warehouse Market.

This is an expansion of Tip Top Poultry’s recall from Sept. 28, issued after several products sold in Canada tested positive for listeria monocytogenes. All of the products involved were made on a single production line at the plant, which had been given a “thorough intensified cleaning plan,” the company said, after an earlier sample had been found to have listeria in it.

“Tip Top Poultry is shutting down this fowl cooking line until it identifies the source of any potential contamination and completely eliminates it,” the company in a statement about the recall on its website.

The recall was expanded this week because the products, such as chicken salad, were used in other products, the USDA says. Some of the products may have been served from the deli counter in grocery stores, the agency says.

The products being recalled carry the number “Est. P-17453” inside the USDA inspection mark. Among the products are Duke Chicken Salad, Clean Eatz Baja Pineapple Chicken, SpringGlen Fresh Foods Chunky White Meat Chicken Salad, Nutrisystem Three Cheese Chicken, Private Selection Butter chicken Spring Rolls, and Trader Joe’s Chicken Pot Pie. For a complete list of products and retailers visit the agency’s site.

Health officials are concerned consumers may have the recalled products in their freezer or refrigerator.

While there have been no confirmed illnesses attributed to the products, health officials suggest that consumers who bought any of the products throw them away or return them to where they purchased them.

Each year, about 1,600 people get ill and 260 die from listeriosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most susceptible are pregnant women and their newborns, adults ages 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems, the agency says.

Read more at usatoday.com.