US meat firm suspends operations after food poisoning scare
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) initially announced a product recall of its barbecue whole hogs on 13 August when the Salmonella was discovered. Now it has expanded the scope of the recall to include all products associated with contaminated source material. This amounts to some 523,380 pounds of pork products. The establishment has voluntarily suspended operations.
FSIS said company made insufficient efforts to make sanitary improvements in the intervening weeks.
Products included in the recall were varying weights of boxed and bagged whole hogs for barbeque; varying weights of boxed and bagged fabricated pork products including various pork offal products, pork blood and pork trim. They were produced on various dates between 18 April 2015 and 26 August 2015.
Recall
The product subject to recall bears the establishment number ‘Est. 1628’ inside the USDA mark of inspection. The product was shipped to various individuals, retail locations, institutions, and distributors in Alaska, Oregon and Washington.
The FSIS began investigating the company back in July following reports of illnesses. Working in conjunction with the Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), FSIS identified 36 people who became ill after eating Kapowsin Meats’ whole hogs for barbecue. This later grew and, based on epidemiological evidence, there are now 152 known patients. FSIS is continuing to investigate.
