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White Castle recalls frozen burgers over listeria contamination

By Sommer Brokaw
White Castle voluntarily recalled some frozen burgers Friday. Photo courtesy FDA
White Castle voluntarily recalled some frozen burgers Friday. Photo courtesy FDA

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- White Castle has issued a voluntary recall for a "limited number" of frozen burger packs over concerns about a possible listeria contamination.

The recall for "possible presence" of listeria affects six-pack cheeseburgers, six-pack hamburgers, six-pack jalapeno cheeseburgers, 16-pack hamburgers and 16-pack cheeseburgers with "best by" dates from Aug. 4 to Aug. 17, 2020.

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The listeria monocytogenes bacteria can cause serious and sometimes deadly infections in young children, the elderly and others with weakened immune systems, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms like high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, stomach pain and diarrhea, but the infection can cause miscarriages in pregnant women.

So far, public health officials have not reported any illnesses associated with the products, but the presence of listeria monocytogenes was found in a recent sample from a third-party lab that tested burgers from one manufacturing facility.

"Our number one focus is the safety of our customers and our team members, and as a family owned business, we want to hold ourselves to the absolute highest standards of accountability in all aspects of our business -- and especially food safety," White Castle Vice President Jamie Richardson said. "This voluntary recall is precautionary and is the right thing to do."

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The Columbus, Ohio-based company said it performs "frequent and regular" tests for "quality assurance."

The company said it has not shipped any products from the affected facility since the lab test -- and promised to perform intensive cleaning efforts, aggressively elevate food safety testing and manufacturing guidelines and test the facility for traces of the bacteria.

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