USDA Expands 10M-Pound Chicken and Beef Recall Over Listeria Fears — Citing Risk from Unnamed School Cafeterias

A 10-million-pound, nationwide recall of chicken and beef has been expanded by an additional 1.7 million pounds over fears of listeria — federal officials cited possible contamination of meat served in school cafeterias.

To make matters worse, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's notification late Tuesday — which raised the size of the recall to 11.7 million pounds — did not include a list of potentially affected schools.

“A school distribution list is not available at this time,” the USDA said in a statement on its website about the recall, which is linked to Oklahoma-based meatpacking giant BrucePack.

A source close to the agency said the extension of the recall was not just due to the addition of schools. The USDA has widened the production window for the recall of meat produced as early as May 31, up from the previous start date of June 19, the source said. The window extends to October 8.

A USDA spokeswoman said the agency is compiling a list of potentially affected school districts.

The warning leaves parents in the dark as the USDA struggles to respond to the second large listeria recall in as many months.

“The USDA wants to be sure [even if] It scares the public,” James Marsden, a food safety consultant and former adviser to the agency, told The Post.

According to Marsden, the expansion of recalls to schools — and the lack of information — may be linked to Durant, Okla.-based BrucePack's lack of good record keeping.

“A recall usually starts small and will extend over and over again because the company doesn't have the necessary records to show that the product should be excluded from the recall,” according to Marsden.

The school's risk exposure followed confusion last week after the USDA released a 10-million-pound recall without specifying which brands and retailers were affected, instead releasing a list of product codes and abbreviations that were difficult, if not impossible, for shoppers to understand.

According to U.S. regulators this week, The USDA updated the list to clarify that the products at risk include frozen dinners and fresh salads from Walmart, Target, Trader Joe's and major grocery chains including Kroger and Publix.

Typically, food products that leave a plant have barcodes on their packaging that are supposed to identify which line the food was produced on, the time and date, and where it went afterward, experts said.

Brucepack withdrawal has not caused any known illnesses to date. “But there could be illnesses in multiple states and the health department still hasn't connected the epidemiological dots,” said food safety advocate Bill Marler.

According to food safety experts, listeria has an incubation period of three to 70 days and can cause miscarriage even if a pregnant woman has a mild case of listeria.

In the Brucepack scenario, consumers may have had some potentially tainted products in their refrigerators and freezers because many of the packaged foods included frozen dinners and ready-made salads.

One comforting fact, Marsden noted, is that listeria can survive in frozen food, but the process of heating the food will kill the bacteria in many cases.

Meanwhile, the USDA is conducting an internal investigation into Boar's Head's management — which has violated dozens of inspection reports over the years — and the inspector general's office is also conducting an investigation into the agency, Boar's Head confirmed Tuesday.

“The USDA is acting very cautiously,” Marsden said. “They're under a microscope and there's a lot of pressure to get it right because of Boar's head.”

More than seven million pounds of Boar's Head products were yanked from stores in July after 10 people died and dozens were hospitalized due to the cold.