These disturbing and occasionally deadly food recalls from the past 20 years just might convince you to inspect everything a little more closely the next time you make a turkey sandwich or host Thanksgiving dinner.
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00:00These disturbing and occasionally deadly food recalls from the past 20 years just might
00:05convince you to inspect everything a little more closely the next time you make a turkey
00:10sandwich or host Thanksgiving dinner.
00:13The bacteria Listeria has a nasty reputation for wreaking havoc on the food industry, as
00:19it can cause symptoms like nausea, fever, and diarrhea. In the worst cases, it can even
00:24be fatal, which is why Bruce Pack moved so quickly in May 2024 after realizing that several
00:30of its ready-to-eat poultry products could have been contaminated.
00:34The comprehensive list of affected products compiled by the United States Department of
00:37Agriculture spanned over 400 pages. It included such popular snack products as Trader Joe's
00:43Turkey Club Wrap and Walmart's Market Side Cobb Salad with Turkey and Bacon. Several
00:48schools also received potentially contaminated products, with nearly 12 million pounds recalled
00:53in total. Luckily, no illnesses were reported to the USDA in this case.
00:59In January 2024, Sommpartners LLC got the new year off to a bad start by initiating
01:05a recall of 133,039 pounds of ready-to-eat turkey kielbasa, a kind of smoked sausage
01:12that originates from Poland.
01:14With the kielbasa already distributed nationwide, it was a huge undertaking. But it was very
01:19necessary, as multiple people had already complained that their sausages were contaminated.
01:24The issue this time was fragments of bone. The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety
01:28and Inspection Service has strict guidelines on how much bone can be left in poultry products,
01:33only allowing particles that measure a maximum of 1.5 by 2 millimeters. One person suffered
01:38a minor oral injury after biting into one of the fragments. Anyone who found the sausage
01:43in their kitchen was encouraged to return it for a refund.
01:48In April 2023, people with Genio Fully Cooked Turkey Sausage Patties were in for an unwelcome
01:53surprise. As it turned out, they'd actually purchased mislabeled frozen turkey meatballs,
01:58which would be a big problem for anyone with a soy allergy. In total, it was believed that
02:02roughly 11,800 pounds of the meatballs were mislabeled.
02:06With soy among the top eight allergens in the United States, the Food Safety and Inspection
02:11Service encouraged consumers to double-check any turkey products in their home. They also
02:15warned any institutions that may have bought the product in bulk to do the same.
02:21Butterball is one of the biggest names in the turkey business, but it's still faced
02:25some challenging recalls over the years. In October 2021, the company was forced to initiate
02:29a recall of approximately 14,000 pounds of ground turkey products. Both Butterball All-Natural
02:34Ground Turkey and Kroger Ground Turkey were pulled from store shelves after it was discovered
02:39that they may have contained small pieces of blue plastic. There were fortunately no
02:43reports of anybody actually finding the plastic in their turkey, but in these situations,
02:47it's always better to be safe than sorry.
02:49One word.
02:50Yes, sir.
02:51Are you listening?
02:52Yes, sir, yes.
02:53Plastics.
02:57With the recall happening one month before Thanksgiving, it's no surprise that Butterball
03:00was also quick to stress that this was an anomaly. As the company insisted to CNN Business,
03:06The health and safety of the people who enjoy our products is a top priority for Butterball,
03:10and we work hard to ensure our product safety program meets or exceeds government regulations.
03:17ConAgra Brands is no stranger to bad headlines. In the early 2000s, it faced a string of food
03:21safety scandals, and then in 2020, it undertook a hefty recall of frozen turkey and chicken
03:27bowl products. About 276,872 pounds of these bowls were withdrawn from the market after
03:34multiple consumers complained that they found small rocks in their meals. As a result, the
03:39turkey sausage and egg white scramble variety of Healthy Choice Power Bowls was pulled from
03:43stores nationwide. Customers were also encouraged to check their freezers for any meals containing
03:48the offending rocks.
03:50I got a rock.
03:51Two years before blue plastic got in Butterball's turkey, the brand undertook a much more dramatic
03:57recall. In March 2019, the Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that six ground
04:01turkey products produced by the company were potentially contaminated with Salmonella.
04:06While three of these products were Butterball's own brand, two others were sold under Kroger
04:11and FoodLine. In total, this brought the recall to 39 tons of raw ground turkey.
04:17Some of the items had been donated to food banks in Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin,
04:22and Massachusetts. The recall was pretty urgent, as an outbreak of Salmonellosis had affected
04:27five people across two states. Similar to Listeria, Salmonella primarily causes symptoms
04:31like diarrhea, stomach cramps, and fever. It also causes roughly 420 deaths in the United
04:37States every year.
04:40A Salmonella outbreak struck in 2018 that was traced back to Genio Ground Turkey, so
04:45the company then recalled 164,210 pounds of raw ground turkey products. By the time a
04:51clear link between the outbreak and Genio had been established, the outbreak was already
04:55in full swing. Altogether, 216 people contracted Salmonellosis across 38 states. It's believed
05:02that the outbreak actually started back in November 2017, with 22 cases also reported
05:07in Canada.
05:08Steve Lykan, Genio Turkey Store's president at the time, insisted that the company had
05:12made operational changes over the years to reduce the risk of Salmonella, including vaccinating
05:18turkeys to protect them from the bacteria. He also claimed that this was an industry-wide
05:23issue.
05:24A mass turkey recall was initiated in October 2017 after a worker at a Publix grocery store
05:30noticed that some packages seemed to contain metal shavings. The recall ultimately affected
05:35four products manufactured by Prestige Foods, two varieties of Publix ground turkey and
05:40one each from Fit & Active and Wise Markets. Approximately 38,475 pounds of meat were pulled
05:47from the market in nine different states. While there was never any specific explanation
05:52about how the metal ended up in the turkey, Prestige Foods had contacted the USDA in September
05:57to report that the contamination likely took place when workers at its plant were sanitizing
06:01processing equipment. Luckily, thanks to the quick response, no injuries were reported.
06:07In October 2016, an unidentified black material somehow appeared in oven-roasted turkey manufactured
06:13by Michigan Turkey Producers. After being alerted about this by a customer complaint,
06:18the company issued a recall for approximately 54,000 pounds of its products. The products
06:23in question had been shipped to a distribution center in Florida, as well as food services
06:28in the same state and Puerto Rico. The good news is that no injuries were reported as
06:32a result of the contamination. Anyone who may have purchased products with the affected
06:36lock codes was encouraged to check and throw them out.
06:39In August 2011, the Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation undertook what was then the third
06:46biggest recall in the U.S. Approximately 36 million pounds of ground turkey were recalled
06:52after a strain of salmonella that proved particularly resistant to antibiotics sickened 136 people
06:59in 34 states. The outbreak was believed to have begun in February of that year, but it
07:03was only in July that the Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health
07:08alert warning people to take care while handling raw turkey and ensure that it's cooked to
07:12an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
07:16A few weeks later, the outbreak was linked to the death of a man in Sacramento, at which
07:20point Cargill issued its recall. It later emerged that the FSIS had found salmonella
07:26in Cargill ground turkey all the way back in March, but apparently didn't have evidence
07:30to justify a recall until months later.
07:33In response to the outbreak, Cargill temporarily shuttered its processing plant in Springfield,
07:38Arkansas for a week. In September, the same strain of salmonella was again found in the
07:42ground turkey, forcing yet another plant closure and a smaller recall. Cargill went
07:47on to conduct mass layoffs and later introduced an aggressive sampling and monitoring program.
07:54Listeria was the culprit once again behind a recall by Honey Baked Foods, Inc. in November
07:582006. After selling the potentially contaminated meat through its catalog, website, and four
08:03Honey Baked Ham stores in Ohio, the company warned that all three-pound packages of its
08:08cooked turkey breast were at risk, as were its packages of its whole ham and glazed half-ham.
08:14This recall was initially voluntary, but soon became government-mandated. Nearly 47,000
08:20pounds of meat were affected altogether, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also issuing
08:24a health hazard alert. In an unfortunate twist of fate, the recall came a day after Thanksgiving,
08:30although fortunately no reported illnesses were linked to the honey-baked meat.
08:35One reason that Listeria is an all-too-common threat to the food industry is because it
08:39actually thrives in cold temperatures. LSK Smoked Turkey Products, Inc. had to deal with
08:44that reality in 2005, when routine testing by the Food Safety and Inspection Service
08:48found positive results for the bacteria.
08:51Oh no. That's not good.
08:54The New York-based company went on to recall 39,000 pounds of its turkey wings and drumsticks.
08:59By this point, they'd already been distributed across Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and
09:04Florida. This was another case of preemptive action that may have prevented any actual
09:08illness, as no cases were linked to the products in question.
09:13Processed meat doesn't exactly have the best reputation. For one thing, the steps involved
09:17in making these products include plenty of opportunities for contamination. In November
09:222004, a minor panic was sparked for international trading company after one of its wholesale
09:27customers complained that some of its canned turkey luncheon meat was possibly under-processed.
09:32As a result, the Texas-based company initiated a recall that started in Puerto Rico, where
09:37nearly 11,000 pounds of canned turkey were pulled from distribution. A week later, the
09:42recall expanded to cover the continental United States, as well as one European country. The
09:47company withdrew over 84,000 pounds of its 12-ounce cans of turkey from California, Florida,
09:53Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and the Netherlands.
09:58No reported illnesses were linked to the turkey, though the Food Safety and Inspection Service
10:02still flagged the recall as a high risk for serious health consequences or even death.