Consumer Reports says that several other brands of chicken have been processed in the same Foster Farms plants that are linked to the nationwide Salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 317 people. Some of those brands include Eating Right, Kirkland Signature, O Organics, Open Nature, Ralphs, Safeway Farms, and Simple Truth Organic.
Consumers should look carefully at the packages of chicken before they buy (or touch) them. Look for the code P-6137, P-6137A, and P-7632. Those are the plants implicated in this outbreak. The USDA sent “Notice of Intended Enforcement” letters to those California processing pants, highlighting serious food safety concerns with those plants and all of the products made there. After threatening to shut down those plants last week, USDA let them remain open, stating they had made “significant” progress toward better sanitation.
Kroger is removing all raw chicken products produced at those plants from their stores. And Costco has recalled rotisserie chicken products made in store from Foster Farms chickens produced at those plants.
If you have eaten any of these products and have experienced the symptoms of a Salmonella infection, including vomiting, nausea, diarrhea that may be bloody, chills, headache, abdominal pain, and fever, see your doctor. The hospitalization rate in this outbreak is very high – 42% – which means the bacteria are virulent. In addition, four of the seven outbreak strains of Salmonella Heidelberg in this outbreak are resistant to antibiotics, which can make treating these infections difficult. And 13% of those sickened have developed Salmonella septicemia, a serious blood infection that may require taking antibiotics for life.
I reported the following to the FDA:
Sun-Land, Safeway, and Value Pack (sic) (should be Val-Best) prepackaged chicken smells like chemicals have been used on or in it. The smell started occurring in the chicken around May 1, 2014. Prior to that the chicken was eaten by our dogs without a problem. We feed raw chicken to our dogs. They have been raw fed since 2010 without any problems and never rejecting the chicken. They have never rejected chicken which came from these packages, that is until now. They take one whiff of it and flat out refuse to touch the chicken. I thought it might be the packaging. So upon arrival at home, I removed it from the packaging and placed it in a glass pan in my refrigerator. My dog rejected it again. I smelled it, and it smells like a chemical has been placed on it. Sun-Land is owned by Foster Farms and that alone concerns me. Is this the same chicken taken off the shelves because it was tainted with a bacteria, chemically treated, and then repackaged with a Sun-Land label or a Safeway label or a Value Pack label? It is only the prepackaged chicken which they reject. I purchased the chicken at a local store called Marketplace first. Then Safeway started carrying it. Next, Albertsons carried it. All of it stinks. All of it our dogs refuse to eat.