New Hampshire has become the latest state to warn consumers about a food poisoning concern over Antioch Farms brand Raw Stuffed Chicken Breast Breaded Boneless Breast of Chicken with Rib Meat “A La Kiev.” The partially prepared chicken kiev product was recalled late last month by the Aspen Foods Division of Koch Meats in Chicago after the Minnesota Department of Health linked it to an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis. The Minnesota investigation confirmed a match between the strain of Salmonella that infected case patients and chicken samples that tested positive for the same strain. The chicken kiev Salmonella recall was announced through USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
In New Hampshire, the product was distributed to Shaw’s stores and has since been removed from those stores, said the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS issued a notification recently, advising consumers to check their home freezers and discard any of the product. In addition, the agency is conducting surveillance to identify possible illnesses associated with Antioch Farms brand chicken a la kiev. DHHS also said it is following the national investigation closely should the list of involved products expand. The implicated products were produced on July 2, 2014 and July 8, 2014, and bear the establishment number “P-1358 inside the USDA mark of inspection.” The pre-browned raw chicken breasts come in single five-ounce plastic packets.
“Even though the product has been removed from stores, it is important that all consumers check their freezers,” said Dr. José Montero, Director of Public Health at DHHS. “Most people recover from salmonellosis, but it has serious implications for young children, seniors, and the immune compromised.”
Authorities have not taken issue with the manufacturer’s package labeling, which includes multiple warnings that the chicken is raw and shouldn’t be cooked in a microwave oven. But the lead investigator of the outbreak has said something must have changed with the chicken, because it has been adequately labeled since 2008 and no other outbreaks have been associated with it. The Minnesota investigator, Dr. Carlota Medus, told Food Poisoning Bulletin in an interview that it could have been possible that the chicken was contaminated with so much Salmonella that it would be very difficult to prepare it with out getting sick. The latest update from the Minnesota Department of Health is that six people in the state were confirmed as case patients in the outbreak and one was hospitalized.
Salmonella is a bacterium that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Some cases may be more severe and people may even need to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other parts of the body and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.
