A Twin Cities supplier of food to retailers and airlines is recalling tens of thousands of pounds of meat and poultry products in connection with detection of a listeria contamination, federal officials said Wednesday.
Buddy's Kitchen of Burnsville produced the 62,488 pounds of meat and poultry breakfast products from July 16 through Sept. 25. No illnesses have been linked to the contamination.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the listeria monocytogene contamination originated in roasted red skin potatoes from an undisclosed independent supplier. The recalled Buddy's Kitchen products used those potatoes.
Neither the recall notice, nor Buddy's Kitchen disclosed clients who may have served the products. The company serves the airline industry, convenience stores, specialty restaurant chains and vending operators.
Dave Smith, CEO of Buddy's Kitchen, declined to reveal the potato supplier, saying he didn't want to impede the federal investigation. Smith said his company "vetted out that supplier very, very carefully. We took extremely aggressive steps to prevent something like this from happening, and it still happened. They just had a failure at the factory. It was one lot."
Listeria monocytogenes in food can cause listeriosis, a serious infection, especially in older adults, people with weakened immune systems and pregnant women and newborns.
Covered by the recall are:
• Swiss cheese and Mushroom Omelet with Seasonal Tid-Bit Potatoes & Turkey Buffet Sausage Link trays with production codes 07/16/14 9, 08/08/14 9 and 08/27/14 9.
