The USDA has issued a public health alert for frozen raw breaded stuffed chicken breast products in relation to a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak. This outbreak has been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has having sickened at least 17 people in six states, hospitalizing eight of them. These items may be labeled “chicken cordon bleu,” chicken with “broccoli and cheese,” or “chicken Kiev.”
FSIS suspects that there may be a link between the frozen raw breaded pre-browned stuffed chicken products and this illness cluster. The illness onset dates mentioned in the public alert notice and the CDC outbreak announcement match.
Even though this alert is being issued to remind consumers about the proper handling and cooking of raw chicken, it is illegal to sell food in this country that is contaminated with enough bacteria to make someone sick.
As part of this investigation, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture collected frozen, raw, breaded, stuffed chicken products from a retail store for testing. One of the patients in this outbreak shopped at the that store, although the production lots tested by the Minnesota labs have not been known to have been purchased by any of the case patients.
FSIS has not received any purchase documentation, shopper records, or other traceable information about these products or the products the patients may have purchased, so they do not have the necessary information to request a recall. However, according to the CDC announcement, the outbreak strain was found in two samples of Kirkwood Chicken Cordon Bleu by Minnesota officials.
The raw breaded stuffed chicken under health alert products may appear to be cooked and ready to eat but are in fact raw and must be properly cooked before consumption. Many of these products are labeled with instructions saying that the product is raw and the label offers cooking instructions.
Some of the patients in this outbreak reported that they did not following the cooking instructions. Some reported microwaving the product, cooking it in an air fryer, or cooking it in the oven for less than the recommended time and without using a meat thermometer.
Symptoms of a Salmonella infection can include a fever, nausea, vomiting, stomach and abdominal cramps, and diarrhea that may be bloody. If you have eaten any frozen raw stuffed chicken breasts and have been sick, see your doctor.
If you or a loved one have been sickened with a Salmonella infection after eating frozen raw breaded stuffed chicken products, please contact our experienced lawyers for help at 1-888-377-8900 or 612-338-0202.
