School Food Meals Recalled Nationwide Because of Listeria

Federal school breakfast and lunch programs, which serve students nationwide through school food programs, may be contaminated with Listeria.

Announced by officials on Saturday, this recall affects 91,585 pounds of frozen meals, including breakfast burritos and wraps sold by brands, El Mas Fino, Los Cabos, and Midamar, which contain meats like beef, ham, sausage, and turkey.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service said that these meals were manufactured by the California company MCI Foods between September 17 and October 14.

The food, safety, and inspection service is known as a branch of the US Department of Agriculture that focuses on public health.

Within the announcement, the department named seven different breakfast products that could be contaminated. These meals are distributed to low-income students from programs, part of the national school breakfast and lunch. These programs are also a part of the Department of Agriculture.

According to the department, this program alone served more than 14 million children back in 2016 and close to 30 million participants in the lunch program in 2019.

So far, there are no confirmed reports of illnesses tied to the recalled products. The recall started when the manufacturer discovered Listeria while testing egg ingredients from suppliers.

“FSIS is concerned that some products may be in institutional refrigerator of freezers. Instructions are urged not to serve these products. These products should be thrown away,” the agency said.

What is Listeria? According to the Mayo Clinic, Listeria is an infection that is caused by bacteria from food that can cause symptoms such as fever, headache, stiff neck, muscle ache, confusion, loss of balance, and a range of other problems, such as digestive problems.

These can be synonymous with the flu, which could be a signal of an invasive infection, with an incubation period of two months after consumption, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Pregnant women, newborns, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to harmful infections, according to Mayo.

According to the CDC, symptoms can range from mild to potentially fatal. Listeria is the third leading cause of death from foodborne illnesses in the United States, with 172 deaths from the infection annually. In just this month alone, multiple outbreaks have been reported.

One impact in particular came from a meal kit from the food subscription service HelloFresh, and another caused the recall of nearly 245,000 pounds of pre-cooked pasta from California, which has since turned deadly with a dozen potential contaminations of products in stores across the U.S.

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