RECALL: Cargill recalls ground turkey due to Salmonella

Cargill Value Added Meats Retail has announced a voluntary recall of approximately 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company’s Springdale, Ark., facility from Feb. 20, 2011, through Aug. 2, 2011, due to possible contamination from Salmonella Heidelberg.
Cargill is initiating this recall as a result of an internal investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information and an ongoing U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service investigation into multiple illnesses from Salmonella Heidelberg.
Additionally, Cargill has suspended production of ground turkey products at its Springdale turkey processing facility until it is able to determine the source of the Salmonella Heidelberg and take corrective actions. Other turkey products produced at Springdale are not part of the recall. Cargill owns four turkey processing facilities in the U.S. and no products from the other three are involved in the recall. “While facts continue to be gathered, and currently there is no conclusive answer regarding the source of Salmonella Heidelberg contamination, given our concern for what has happened, and our desire to do what is right for our consumers and customers, we are voluntarily removing our ground turkey products from the marketplace,” said Steve Willardsen, president of Cargill’s turkey processing business. “Additionally, we have suspended ground turkey production at our Arkansas facility until the source can be pinpointed and actions to address it are taken. Public health and the safety of consumers cannot be compromised. It is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products and, for anyone who did, we are truly sorry. We go to great lengths to ensure the food we produce is safe and we fully understand that people expect to be able to consume safe food, each serving, every time.”
Cargill is contacting its customers to make certain they know which of their ground turkey products are affected by this recall. Consumers are urged to return any opened or unopened packages of ground turkey items listed on Cargill’s website to stores where they were purchased for a full refund. Cargill is working closely with its U.S. customers to make certain as much of the product is retrieved as possible. Consumers with questions about recalled ground turkey products may contact Cargill’s consumer relations toll free telephone number: +1.888.812.1646.

Cherokee too late in suit against poultry producers

A federal judge ruled the Cherokee Nation may not be party to an Oklahoma lawsuit against poultry producers, according to reports.
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frizzell said he would have allowed the tribe to intervene had the request been timely.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is suing 12 poultry companies, in a claim that chicken waste contaminated the Illinois River watershed.
The Cherokee Nation plans to appeal the decision.
Defendants in the lawsuit include Tyson, Cargill and Cal-Maine.

Fake IDs used to work at Cargill plant

An Ohio woman charged with three felonies for processing hundreds of identification cards for illegal immigrants allegedly made some of the cards for several people who used them to work at Cargill Meat Solutions poultry processing plant in Dayton, Va, according to a news story.
Nekeia Mack-Fuller, 31, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, is charged with aggravated identity fraud and two conspiracy charges.
Mack-Fuller is one of eight charged in the case.
Christina Cheatham, 25, of Columbus, Ohio, was called as a witness for the prosecution and said the Eastside License Agency helped about 700 people get IDs in Ohio. Cheatham also is implicated in the fake ID spree.