WASHINGTON -- Bumble Bee Seafoods is recalling 1.5 million cases of canned tuna because some cans have a small hole which could admit disease-causing bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration says.
There have been no reports of illness, the FDA said Friday, and no bacteria that can cause illness has been found in any tuna analyzed.
Consumers should not eat the tuna but should return unopened cans to the stores in which it was bought.
The cans being recalled are under the Bumble Bee label in 3 -, 3 -, 6-, 6 -, 7-, 12 - and 13-ounce sizes, the Mid Pacific label in the 6-ounce size and the Coral label in 3 - and 12 -ounce sizes. Six-ounce cans under the Cloverleaf label also are being recalled, the FDA said.
The recalled tuna, distributed nationwide, is the entire 1981 and 1982 output of Bumble Bee's Honolulu plant. Cans are packed 24 or 48 to a case.
Stamped on their lids are the numbers '21' or '22' on the top line, followed by two or three other numbers. A bottom line of numbers and letters can be ignored for identification purposes, FDA said.
The recall followed an FDA inspection at the Honolulu plant based on a San Francisco consumer's complaint, FDA spokesman James Greene said.
The inspection showed the holes were probably caused by damaged wire baskets used to hold cans during heat processing, FDA said. The company says the baskets are no longer used.
