The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) requested Foster Farms conduct the recall because this product is known to be associated with a specific illness.
Until this point there had been no recall, despite a reported 600 cases from 27 states since March 2013, because the firm refused to recall any product and USDA-FSIS could not prove illness to a specific production lot.
FSIS was notified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a Salmonella Heidelberg illness on June 23, associated with the consumption of a boneless skinless chicken breast product.
Based on FSIS’ epidemiological and traceback investigations, one case-patient has been identified in California with an illness onset date of May 5.
The chicken products were produced on March 7 through to 13 and shipped to Costco, Foodmaxx, Kroger, Safeway and other retail stores and distribution centers in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Washington.