Aug 4, 2011 10:10 AM

Cargill Value Added Meats Retail, a business unit of Wichita KS-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, announced an immediate Class I voluntary recall of about 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company’s Springdale AR facility from February 20, 2011, through August 2, 2011, due to possible contamination from Salmonella Heidelberg.

The company is initiating this recall as a result of its internal investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information that became available Aug 1, 2011, as well as an ongoing US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) 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 United States, and no products from the other three are involved in the recall.

Salmonella is a common bacteria with about 2,400 different strains, the vast majority not harmful to humans.

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 (www.cargill.com/turkey-recall) to stores where they were purchased for a full refund. Consumers with questions about recalled turkey products may contact Cargill’s consumer relations toll-free telephone number (1-888-812-1646).

For food safety inquiries, consumers may contact the USDA’s “Ask Karen” virtual representative available 24 hours a day at www.askkaren.gov/. The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-674-6854 is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from 10 am to 4 pm (Eastern) Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages are available 24 hours a day.

For more information, visit www.cargill.com.