Big Y Products Included In Botulism Alert

By John Voket

Several Big Y products are among the dozens of brands containing canned meat that may be connected to a botulism outbreak. On July 24, the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition recommended people immediately throw away any of the more than 90 different products, from chili sauce to corned beef hash to dog food, produced at a plant and linked to items already determined to be contaminated.

“You’re talking tens of millions of cans that may have been involved,” said Robert Brackett, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Castleberry’s Food Company has temporarily closed the suspect plant. And the company has hired an outside firm to visit more than 8,500 retailers around the country in an effort to quickly get recalled products off store shelves.

So far, four cases of botulism have been reported, and all four people consumed Hot Dog Chili Sauce Original, a product made by Castleberry’s.

Cans of the chili sauce made at the plant were found in the homes of an Indiana couple and two children in Texas who had been hospitalized with botulism.

All four are expected to survive.

Botulism is a muscle-paralyzing disease caused by a toxin made by a bacterium, Clostridium botulinum. Such bacteria are commonly found in soil.

The Big Y products involved include: Big Y Chili with Beans, 15 oz (18894 80425); Big Y Chili no Beans, 15 oz (18894 80424); and Big Y Corned Beef Hash, 15 oz (18894 80225). According to Castleberry’s website, possible tainted products can be easily identified by their production codes.

Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y operates retail grocery stores on Queen Street in Newtown, within a mile of the town line in the Stony Hill section of Bethel, and on Main Street in Monroe.

Jerry Farrell, Jr, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection, said the expanded recall is due to processing malfunctions at the Georgia-based company’s plant that existed longer than originally estimated.

By 9 am Monday, Big Y supermarkets had pulled approximately 10,000 recalled items, including chili with beans, chili with no beans and corned beef hash, from its 56 stores throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“We have a whole system for recall,” Claire D’Amour-Daley, a spokeswoman for supermarket chain, said in The Norwich Bulletin. As of Monday, July 23, no cases of illness linked to products sold at Big Y supermarkets had been reported, she added.

Although Castleberry is recalling everything made on the one manufacturing line, the only products linked to illness thus far are the chili sauces.

Company officials said they were working closely with the FDA and the Department of Agriculture to determine just how widespread the problem is. They could not provide information about how many of the recalled products were still on store shelves.

“So that we can devote all available resources to this investigation, we agreed to shut down our entire facility in Augusta. We will not process any more food there until the FDA and the USDA agrees it is appropriate to reopen,” said Dave Melbourne, senior vice president for Castleberry’s. “And, we have stopped all further product distribution from our centers.”

The plant is expected to be closed for about a week, he said.

Castleberry’s is owned by Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC and based in San Diego,

Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by consuming foods with the botulinim toxin, a nerve toxin that can cause paralysis of the arms, legs, and breathing muscles. Symptoms, such as blurred vision and slurred speech, generally begin 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated food.

Typically, commercially canned foods are heated long enough and to high enough temperatures to kill the spores. Melbourne confirmed that the botulism occurred in the chili sauce because the product was undercooked.

“The current tests only indicate botulism toxin for the chili products, but because other products were also canned using the same equipment, we expanded the recall to include all brands that were canned on the same line,” Melbourne said.

The company has also asked consumers to dispose of any questionable goods from Castleberry’s in doubled plastic bags. Consumers can get full refunds by calling the company. The company is not asking consumers to bring product labels into the grocery store so that they can get refunds.

Brand names of the recalled products include Austex, Best Yet, Big Y, Black Rock, Bloom, Bryan, Bunker Hill, Castleberry’s, Cattle Drive, Firefighters, Food Club, Food Lion, Goldstar, Great Value, Kroger, Lowes, Meijer, Morton House, Paramount, Piggly Wiggly, Prudence, Southern Home, Steak N Shake, Thrifty Maid, Triple Bar, and Value Time.

The number of people who have so far become ill from the botulism toxin pales compared to some recent food recalls.

For example, last year’s outbreak of E. coli from baby spinach resulted in 205 confirmed illnesses and three deaths. More recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 60 persons, mostly toddlers, who became ill after eating a snack food that contained a strain of salmonella. Five people were hospitalized after eating the product, called Veggie Booty.

The symptoms associated with botulism are so severe, consumers must not take chances, officials said. Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Castleberry’s at 888-203-8446.