There’s another massive meat recall over Listeria—and it’s a doozy

Another nationwide meat recall is underway over Listeria contamination—and it's far more formidable than the last. As of October 15, meat supplier BrucePac, of Durant, Oklahoma, is recalling 11.8 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products after routine federal safety testing found Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly bacterium, in samples of the company's poultry. The finding triggered an immediate recall, which was first issued on October 9. But, officials are still working to understand the extent of the contamination—and struggling to identify the hundreds of potentially contaminated products. "Because we sell to other companies who 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," BrucePac said in a statement updated October 15. Depending on the packaging, the products may have establishment numbers 51205 or P-51205 inside or under the USDA mark of inspection. But, for now, consumers' best chance of determining whether they've purchased any of the affected products is to look through a 342-page list of products identified by the US Department of Agriculture so far. The unorganized document lists fresh and frozen foods sold at common retailers, including 7-Eleven, Aldi, Amazon Fresh, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe's, Walmart, and Wegmans. Affected products carry well-known brand names, such as Atkins, Boston Market, Dole, Fresh Express, Jenny Craig, Michelina’s, Taylor Farms, and stores' brands, such as Target's Good & Gather. The recalled products were made between May 31, 2024 and October 8, 2024. In the latest update, the USDA noted that some of the recalled products were also distributed to schools, but the agency hasn't identified the schools that received the products. Restaurants and other institutions also received the products.

Infection risk

The alarming recall comes on the heels of a similarly large one for Boar's Head brand meats, which was linked to the largest Listeria outbreak the US has seen in years. The outbreak sickened at least 59 people in 19 states, sending all 59 to the hospital and killing at least 10. USDA inspection reports indicated widespread sanitation problems at the company's Jarratt, Virginia, plant, which has since been shut down indefinitely. While USDA officials feared that some consumers might still have recalled Boar's Head products sitting in their refrigerators—recalled products had sell-by dates up to October 17—all of the products bore the easy-to-identify Boar's Head labeling. In the BrucePac recall, consumers face the more daunting challenge of tracking down the wide array of affected products. So far, there have been no illnesses linked to BrucePac meats. But Listeria infections can be tricky to identify and link. While most illnesses develop within two weeks of an exposure, some can take up to 10 weeks. Given the long timeframe, it can be difficult to link the illness to specific foods. For many people, Listeria infections may cause no more than a short-lived intestinal illness, which is unlikely to get diagnosed and reported. But for people age 65 and older, those with compromised immune systems, and who are pregnant, the infection can become invasive and cause severe illness. For people who are not pregnant, an invasive infection can cause fever, flu-like symptoms (such as muscle aches and fatigue), headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and seizures. Almost 1 in 6 people die. An invasive Listeria infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, and life-threatening infections in newborns.