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Frozen tuna recalled in several states for Salmonella risk
By Kelsey M. Mackin on April 17, 2019
Jensen Tuna of Louisiana is recalling frozen ground tuna imported from JK Fish, because it may potentially be contaminated with Salmonella, according to a recall notice posted on the FDA’s website Tuesday afternoon.
The recall is in response to the CDC and FDA’s investigation of 13 illnesses caused by Salmonella, confirmed to date. As of today, Jensen Tuna’s ground tuna samples were found negative for Salmonella.
The recalled tuna product was distributed from November 30, 2018, to March 15, 2019. Jensen Tuna sold the product to wholesalers in Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, New York, and Washington; “These wholesalers further distribute the product to restaurants and retail locations.”
The recalled tuna product is individually packaged in clear plastic 1-pound bags and is sold in white wax 20-pound boxes. According to the recall notice, the product is only sold as a wholesale case with twenty bags in each case. The cases are labeled with the production lot codes of z266, z271, and z272.
No other tuna products are impacted or part of this recall.
“Restaurants and retailers should check with their suppliers and not sell or serve recalled frozen ground tuna, and should wash and sanitize locations where recalled ground tuna was stored,” the recall notice said.
Consumers with concerns should ask their restaurants and retailers whether the tuna dish they are purchasing contained the recalled ground tuna. The FDA noted that it is unlikely that the recalled ground tuna was sold directly to consumers in grocery stores, and likely that it was used in food dishes sold by restaurants or retailers.
As of April 16, the FDA, CDC and state and local partners, “is investigating a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Newport illnesses linked to frozen ground tuna from Jensen Tuna, sourced from JK Fish of Vietnam.”
Through interviews with ill people, CDC and state partners collected and analyzed information that allowed them to identify frozen ground tuna as a possible source of illness. The FDA worked with state partners to trace the distribution of frozen ground tuna from individual case-patients back to Jensen Tuna.
Advice to consumers
Anyone who has eaten any of the implicated tuna and developed symptoms of Salmonella infection should seek medical attention and tell their doctors about their possible exposure. Anyone who has recently eaten ground tuna products at a restaurant and developed symptoms should take the same precautions.
Symptoms usually include fever, diarrhea that is often bloody, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Infections from Salmonella bacteria can become very serious, and are sometimes fatal.
Those at highest risk of serious infection include young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems such as cancer patients or transplant recipients. In rare circumstances, infection from Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis.
