Oscar Mayer ready-to-eat chicken recalled

updated 3:41 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2007

Kraft Foods Inc. on Friday recalled all packages of Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast strips and cuts, expanding the scope of a Feb. 18 recall that resulted when tests found signs of possible contamination.

The initial recall was by Carolina Culinary Foods, a supplier for Kraft, and occurred last Sunday after Georgia Department of Agriculture food scientists found Listeria monocytogenes in a sample. That type of contamination can cause listeriosis, which is uncommon but potentially fatal.

The first recall involved only packages of ready-to-eat chicken breast strips with rib meat that carried a “Use by” date of April 19.

Kraft said that while it has had no reports of listeriosis and no other findings of Listeria in its products, it has expanded the initial action as a precautionary measure to include all its products at the facility in question. All code dates, sizes, and flavor varieties of Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich Chicken Breast Strips and Cuts are now being removed from the marketplace nationwide.

“We have a goal of always being able to assure consumers of the safety of our products, and we regret not having met that high standard in this case,” the company said in a statement.

The company said people seeking more information should call its consumer hotline at 800-308-1841.

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