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Ground turkey recall could affect what's stored in freezer

Enid News & Eagle - 3/21/2019

March 20-- Mar. 20--U.S. Department of Agriculture'sFood Safety and Inspection Service recently announced a recall of more than 78,000 pounds of Butterball ground turkey that may be contaminated with Salmonella Schwarzengrund. The prepackaged raw meat was produced July 7, 2018.

Barbara Brown, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension food specialist, said even though the meat was produced eight months ago, consumers still can be at risk.

"Many people purchase large quantities of meat to stock their freezers. It's quite likely there are consumers who have this possibly tainted meat in their freezers right now," Brown said. "All products affected were packaged in 48-ounce or 16-ounce packages and marked with a sell or freeze date of July 26, 2018. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. They should be thrown away or returned to the store in which it was purchased."

Consumers may see a complete list of package labels at https://okla.st/2VW5UUa to help determine if they purchased any of the meat that has been recalled. The items were shipped to institutional and retail locations nationwide under the brand names Butterball, Kroger and Food Lion.

Lesa K. Rauh, Garfield County family and consumer sciences educator, said consumption of food contaminated with Salmonella can cause salmonellosis, one of the most common bacterial foodborne illnesses.

"The most common symptoms of salmonellosis are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within 12 to 72 hours after eating the contaminated product," Rauh said. "The illness usually lasts four to seven days and most people recover without treatment. However, the diarrhea may be severe enough the person may need to be hospitalized. Older adults, very young children and those with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop a severe illness."

For more information about this recall or other food safety questions, call Rauh at (580) 237-1228 at Garfield County OSU Cooperative Extension office.

USDA also lists recall information on its website at www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls.

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