California poultry producer, Foster Farms, is being blamed for the 300 cases of salmonella across 18 states.
The company has not issued any recalls but are working with federal and state health officials to find the source of the outbreak. However, the outbreak is so expansive that the CDC had to call 30 employees who had been furloughed during the government shutdown back to work to help with the case.
According to Dan Engeljohn with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, “The outbreak appears to have begun in March and the USDA was notified of the illnesses in July. Investigators had a difficult time pinpointing the source of the illnesses.”
A spokesman for Foster Farms says no recall was in effect and that the infections were caused by eating chicken that was undercooked or improperly handled.
“While the company, FSIS and CDC continue to investigate the issue, Foster Farms has instituted a number of additional food safety practices, processes and technology throughout company facilities that have already proven effective in controlling Salmonella in its Pacific Northwest operations earlier this year,” Foster Farms said in a statement on its website.
While the USDA has not directly linked the outbreak of illnesses to a specific product or production period they are suspect packages would read: P6137, P6137A and P7632.
