Tyson Foods expands recall that now affects additional 4,500 tons of chicken products over listeria risk

Tyson Foods issued a recall on its pre-cooked chicken products earlier this month, and the company cited possible listeria contamination as the reason. At that time, the recall affected 8.5 million pounds of its packed chicken products.

The initial recall for Tyson Foods’ chicken packs

It was mentioned that the affected Tyson Foods chicken items include frozen chicken breasts, fajita strips, diced chicken, and boneless chicken. These were said to have been sold in restaurants, groceries, schools, and nursing facilities across the United States.

“Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns,” the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service stated in the official recall notice. “Less commonly, persons outside these risk groups are affected.”

While this is already a huge number for a single recall of food products, a new notice has been released. Tyson Foods expanded the recall and added more than 450,000 pounds of chicken products to the initial 8.5 million pounds of chicken.

The expanded recall of nearly half a million pre-cooked poultry packs

According to CBS News, the new notice that was posted last weekend by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service added more batches of Tyson Foods chicken products due to listeria risks.

It was mentioned that there was already an outbreak related to the harmful bacteria, and it was linked to Tyson Foods products. One death was reported in Texas while two others in Delaware and Texas fell ill due to listeria, and this was revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, Tyson foods stated that most of the possible contaminated products were manufactured at the company’s factory in Dexter, Missouri. It was added that some of the major retailers that sold the chicken products include Kroger, Walmart, Target, Wegmans, Publix, and H-E-B.

"While there is no conclusive evidence that the products were contaminated at the time of shipment, the recall is being initiated out of an abundance of caution," Tyson Foods said in a statement.