Oscar Meyer Chicken Strips Recalled

ATLANTA (AP) -- Carolina Culinary Food, a South Carolina company, is recalling more than 52-thousand pounds of Oscar Mayer ready to eat chicken breast strips with rib meat that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service made the announcement today.

Food scientists with the Georgia Department of Agriculture found contamination in a six-ounce packaged sample marked as grilled fully cooked and ready to eat with a code use by April 19th.

The nationwide recall affects all six-ounce packages of "Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast strips with rib meat, grilled, fully cooked, ready to eat" that bear the establishment number "P-19676" inside the U-S-D-A mark of inspection on the front of the package. On the back of each package is a "Use by" date of "19 Apr 2007."

Food so contaminated can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease.

Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea. Listeriosis can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as serious and sometimes fatal infections to infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems such as persons with chronic diseases or taking chemotherapy for cancer.

The federal agency says it has received NO reports of illnesses associated with eating the product.

Consumers with questions about the recall should contact Kraft Consumer Response at 800-871-7117.

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