Tip Top Poultry Recalls Chicken Over Listeria Risk

Several Tip Top ready-to-eat poultry products were recently recalled due to concerns that the chicken and turkey are contaminated with listeria.

On Sept. 28, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Tip Top Poultry Inc. would be recalling an “undetermined” amount of their ready-to-eat poultry products which may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause a serious infection when people eat contaminated food. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pregnant women, newborns, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems are more likely to develop a listeria infection. Other consumers may develop a listeria infection but this is less common.

People with listeriosis (a listeria infection) may develop symptoms such as a fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and even convulsions.

Pregnant woman usually only develop a fever and flu-like symptoms but are at risk for serious complications such as miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or an infection of the newborn which can be fatal.

Usually, listeriosis requires antibiotic treatment with most patients needing hospitalization. The CDC notes that around one in five people with the infection die due to complications such as sepsis (blood infection) and brain infections (leading to meningitis or encephalitis).

Due to a potential listeria contamination, Tip Top has recalled many of their ready to eat chicken products. The contamination was reportedly discovered through testing samples of the products by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The recall reportedly includes frozen cooked, diced, or shredded ready to eat chicken products which were manufactured at the Tip Top facility in Rockmart, Georgia between Jan. 21, 2019 and Sept. 24, 2019. A full list of affected items can be found here.

The products can reportedly be identified with establishment number “Est. P-17453” in the UDSA inspection mark. These products may have been sold at numerous manufacturers such as Kroger, ALDI, Food Lion, Trader Joe’s, Food 4 Less and Piggly Wiggly.

Originally, FSIS recalled products with product codes ranging from 10000 to 19999 and 70000 to 79999. Tip Top reportedly decided to expand the dates and codes of the recall “out of an abundance of caution.”

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be in institutional and consumers’ refrigerators and freezers,” the USDA states in their announcement. “Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them and institutions that have purchased these products are urged not to serve them.”

“These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”

According to the Department of Agriculture, there hasn’t been any confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the recalled Tip Top ready-to-eat poultry products. However, the USDA recommends that consumers contact their healthcare provider if they are concerned about an injury or illness.

Following the recall, Tip Top Poultry owner Brad Respess released a statement that the company’s fowl cooking line at their Rockmart facility will be shut down until the source of contamination can be identified and eliminated.

“As a family business, we take food safety seriously because it is so critical to our own families and friends’ health and safety in addition to anyone who consumes our products,” Respess said in the statement.

Did you purchase Tip Top Poultry chicken recently? Let us know in the comments below.

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