Sudden Urgent Recall of Meat from Missouri & Illinois Stores

Missouri and Illinois have something unfortunate in common. Both states had meat sold in their grocery stores that is now under a sudden urgent recall due to a dangerous contamination that can cause serious illness.

This bulletin from the Food and Drug Administration should get everyone's attention in both Missouri and Illinois as this recall affects both states and specifically from meat sold in Kroger and Payless Supermarkets. The alert says "Foppen Seafood is recalling Smoked Norwegian Salmon Slices – Toast sized, 8.1 oz, identified by lot number 412". This is the package shared by the FDA and Kroger.

This meat was sold in both Missouri and Illinois Kroger stores and lot 412 was found to contain Listeria monocytogenes. This infection in its mild form will only cause "fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea" among the healthy, but those with compromised immune systems can suffer "headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions" according to the FDA.

This contaminated salmon meat was sold in 15 states including both Missouri and Illinois. The good news is that it appears this contamination was caught in testing before it led to any direct illnesses as of this writing.

If you find that you have these salmon slices from Kroger or Payless supermarkets in Missouri or Illinois, you can check out the full FDA bulletin for return and refund information.