WASHINGTON, July 27 (AP) — Stores continue to sell recalled canned chili, stew, hash and other foods potentially contaminated with poisonous bacteria even after repeated warnings.
Thousands of cans are being removed from shelves as quickly as investigators find them, more than a week after Castleberry’s Food began recalling more than 90 potentially contaminated products over fears of botulism.
The recall now covers two years’ and tens of millions of cans from a factory in Augusta, Ga. Spot checks by the Food and Drug Administration and state officials continue to find recalled products for sale in convenience stores, gasoline stations and family-run groceries, from Florida to Alaska. The agency has found the items in 250 of the more than 3,700 stores visited, according to figures the agency gave to The Associated Press.
Federal investigators theorize that Castleberry’s, a unit of Bumble Bee Seafoods, failed to cook properly some or all the products, letting the Clostridium botulinum bacteria survive canning. In the oxygen-free and moist environment of the sealed cans, the bacteria thrive and produce a toxin that causes botulism, a paralyzing disease.
The bacteria produce gases that can cause contaminated cans to swell and burst. Cans in a company warehouse have begun to break open. Health officials say the extremely potent toxin can infect people if it is inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the eye or skin breaks.
Health experts consider botulism a severe health threat and worry that word of the recall has not reached all consumers or retailers, especially mom-and-pop operations
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