A sampling of some of the hundreds of ready-to-eat products affected by the BrucePac recall, the USDA said.

US Department of Agriculture

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US Department of Agriculture

Public health authorities are urging Americans to check their refrigerators and freezers after recalling more than 11 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products due to possible listeria contamination.

Oklahoma-based company BrucePac, which sells pre-cooked proteins, is recalling 11,765,285 pounds of meat and poultry it shipped to grocery stores, restaurants, schools and other institutions across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture report. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The FSIS says it discovered listeria during routine testing of finished products containing BrucePac poultry, which a later investigation confirmed was the source.

The bacterium can serious infection This is especially dangerous for people who are pregnant, over 65 years old, or have a weakened immune system. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse events associated with the products, it adds.

Authorities first announced the recall last week, but have since expanded it to more than a million additional pounds of meat and poultry products. That amounts to hundreds of items from dozens of popular brands, sold at more than a dozen supermarket chains across the country.

The USDA also confirmed this week that the products have been distributed to schools and says it will publish a distribution list for schools on its website as soon as one is available.

The recalled products include salads, wraps, pasta bowls, burritos, enchiladas and many other ready-to-eat frozen and family meals, and come from brands including Fresh Express, Rao’s, Boston Market, Atkins, Dole, ReadyMeals, Taylor Farms, Home Select Chef and Signature.

The stores that sell them include Aldi, Amazon Fresh, Giant Eagle, HEB, Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Wegmans and 7-Eleven.

The goods in question were produced between May 31 and October 8 and bear the establishment number “51205” or “P-51205”, within or under the USDA inspection mark. But BrucePac warned that the number only appears on packages it ships directly to customers, and not on retail packages.

“Because we sell to other companies that resell, repackage, or use our products as ingredients in other foods, we do not have a list of retail products that contain our recalled items,” the company said. in a statementadding that the best way for people to identify contaminated products is through the USDA website or by calling the company or retailer where they received the package.

The USDA does keeping a list of recalled products – which as of Wednesday is 345 pages long – urging people to use the search function to look up individual products, stores and brands and throw out whatever they have at home.

Authorities say they are also “concerned that a particular product may be available for use in restaurants, institutions, schools and other establishments” and urge them to immediately discard the goods.

For its part, BrucePac says it is working closely with the USDA to notify consumers, contact affected food companies and distributors and ensure “all necessary actions are taken to ensure a safe food supply.” ”

“We will not resume production until we are confident the issue has been resolved,” the company said.

What to do if you are concerned

The USDA urges people to throw away any affected products and monitor its website for more information as it becomes available.

It says consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-674-6854 or email [email protected], and report complaints about all meat, poultry or egg products online.

Anyone concerned about illness should contact his or her healthcare provider, the department added.

Eating food contaminated with listeria can cause listeriosis, an invasive infection that spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract and must be treated with antibiotics.

That’s what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says listeria infection is the third leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the US. It is estimated that 1,600 people become infected and 260 die from it every year.

The infection can be fatal in older adults and people with weakened immune systems, and can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature births in pregnant women and life-threatening infections in newborns.

Symptoms of listeriosis include fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea, diarrhea, stiff neck, loss of balance and convulsions. According to the Mayo Clinic, in some cases symptoms may begin within a few days of eating contaminated food, but in other cases they may take 30 days or more to appear.

The USDA says anyone in the high-risk categories who experiences flu-like symptoms within two months of eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell their healthcare provider about the food.

Listeria concerns have been responsible for other recalls in recent months, including one outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meat that resulted in 59 hospitalizations and 10 deaths in 19 states this summer. The USDA has since opened an internal investigation in dealing with the foregoing reports of safety violations at the Boar’s Head plant in Virginia.

NPR’s Chandelis Duster contributed reporting.