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Chicken Of The Sea Recall: Life-Threatening Illness Could Result From Eating Undercooked Tuna [Report]

By Christian Savoy
Published on: 16:42 PST, Mar 22, 2016

The recent Chicken of the Sea recall is particularly alarming because officials fear those who consume the product could possibly develop a life-threatening illness. A report from the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), explained that Tri-Union Seafoods LLC is voluntarily recalling a 2,745 cases (equal to 107,280 cans) of Chicken of the Sea brand 5 oz. canned chunk light tuna in oil and 5 oz. canned chunk light tuna in water.

An equipment malfunction is said to be behind this massive recall. The agency wrote that the malfunction may have caused the meat to be undercooked. An excerpt from the report, which further explains the matter, is posted below.

“These deviations were part of the commercial sterilization process and could result in contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens, which could lead to life-threatening illness if consumed. There have been no reported illnesses to date connected with the affected products, and Tri-Union Seafoods LLC is issuing this voluntary recall to ensure the highest level of safety and quality.”

According to Newsmax, Chicken of the Sea is among three labels of tuna under a growing recall. Bumble Bee Foods and H-E-B also recently announced recalls.

Regarding the matter, Shue Wing Chan, president of Tri-Union Seafoods LLC, released the following statement.

“The health and safety of our consumers is our number one priority. As soon as we discovered the issue, we took immediate steps to initiate this voluntary recall, alerting our retail customers that received the product and instructing them to remove it from store shelves,” Chan wrote.

Via Fox 59, the specific products being recalled are listed below.

Chicken of the Sea five-ounce cans of chunk light tuna in oil, with a best-by date of Feb. 10, 2019, and a UPC number of 0 4800000195 5

6OA3Z SCEES
6OAAZ SCEES
6OABZ SCEEB
6OACZ SCEEB

Chicken of the Sea five-ounce cans of chunk light tuna in water, with a UPC number of 0 4800000245 7

6OJEB SCAEB — 2/18/19
6OJCB SCAFB — 2/18/19
6ONEB SCAIB — 2/22/19
6OOFZ SCAFB — 2/23/19
6ORDB SCAFB — 2/25/19
6ORAB SCAFB — 2/25/19
6L2CB SCAFB — 3/2/19
6L32B SCAEB — 3/3/19
6L33B SCAEB — 3/3/19
6L35B SCAEB — 3/3/19
6L3CB SCAEB — 3/3/19

No illnesses linked with the affected products have been reported as of the time of this writing.

As mentioned above, Bumble Bee Foods also issued a voluntary recall last week of more than 31,ooo cases of canned tuna over possible contamination that could lead to life-threatening illness if eaten.

Bumble Bee said in a release that some of the cases of tuna may have been contaminated during a factory sterilization process. Although the company says eating the affected tuna could be potentially fatal, there have been no reports yet of anyone getting sick. The recall was reportedly issued out of an “abundance of caution.”

According to Bumble Bee, three specific UPC codes of canned Chunk Light tuna are involved in the recall due to process deviations that occurred in a co-pack facility not owned or operated by Bumble Bee, the report states. These deviations were part of the commercial sterilization process and could result in contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens.

The cases in the recall were produced in February 2016 and distributed nationally. The products subject to this recall are marked with a can code that starts with a “T” (example: TOA2BSCAFB).

H-E-B is the third company to issue a recall, and 224 cases, or 10,752 cans, of Hill Country Fare chunk light tuna in oil, were recalled because the tuna may have also been undercooked during the production process at a co-packing facility. AL wrote that the five-ounce product was sold in single cans at H-E-B stores in Texas from Feb. 24 to March 16.

[Image via Tim Boyle/Getty Images News]

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