Almost 10M pounds of ready-to-eat chicken recalled due to Listeria

An Oklahoma-based producer of ready-to-eat meat and poultry items has recalled nearly 10 million pounds of product, the second major food-safety recall involving meat in three months. 

BrucePac, based in Durant, Okla., confirmed the recalled products tested positive for  Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria which can cause serious infections in some people, according to an announcement this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The items were produced from June 19 to Oct. 8 and were shipped to restaurants, distributors, and grocers nationwide, including H-E-B, Trader Joe’s, Albertsons, Aldi, Kroger, Hy-Vee, and Coborn’s. The ready-to-eat chicken could have been frozen for future consumption.

The H-E-B products include: H-E-B Chicken Broccoli & Rice casserole and H-E-B Texas Ranch Style chicken. 

At Trader Joe’s, the recalled products include: Trader Joe’s Lemon Chicken & Arugula Salad, Trader Joe’s Tarragon Chicken Salad Wrap, and Trader Joe’s Turkey Club Wrap. 

Fresh Express, which uses BrucePac chicken in its ready-to-eat salads, distributes product to Albertsons, Kroger, Aldi, Kroger, Hy-Vee, and Coborn’s, and those recalled products include: Fresh Express Gourmet Cafe Salads Chicken Caesar (6.3 ounces), Fresh Express Gourmet Cafe Cafe Salads Santa Fe Style (6.3 ounces), Fresh Express Little Salad Bar Santa Fe Style (6.3 ounces), Fresh Express Marketside Caesar Salad with Chicken (6.25 ounces), Fresh Express Marketside Santa Fe Salad with Chicken (6.35 ounces), Fresh Express Marketside Caesar Salad with Chicken (12 ounces), Fresh Express Marketside Southwest Style Salad with Chicken (11.75 ounces), and Fresh Express Little Salad Bar Chicken Caesar salad (6.3 ounces). 

So far, no illnesses have been reported. 

The contamination was discovered after the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service performed routine product testing of ready-to-eat poultry products produced by BrucePac.

In late July, Sarasota, Fla.-based meat company Boar’s Head recalled 7 million pounds of product ranging from ham to bologna to sausage due to a Listeria outbreak that claimed 10 lives and hospitalized dozens more. It was the worst case of Listeria contamination in over a decade.

The deli meat was traced to a Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt, Va., which had been cited 69 times for noncompliance between Aug. 1, 2023, and Aug. 2, 2024, by Department of Agriculture inspectors who found insects, mold, meat buildup, and puddles of blood and another liquid on the floor at the plant.

Boar’s Head made the decision to close the Jarratt plant permanently in mid-September and announced it would no longer produce liverwurst products.