Sandwiches from hundreds of Starbucks stores in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas were recently recalled on the orders of the Food and Drug Administration due to listeria contamination. The actual pull out was done by the food supplier.
The concerned food items include pre-packaged egg, sausage and cheddar cheese on English muffin breakfast sandwiches.
These contaminated food products were supplied by Progressive Gourmet which is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts. They came in six-ounce, clear plastic packages and have marks of "Best Before: 07-AUG-2016."
The questionable sandwiches were sold in approximately 250 Starbucks stores in the aforementioned areas on March 3 to 4. They were immediately removed from these stores, according to the FDA, after the company was informed of their problems.
The presence of Listeria monocytogenes was confirmed on a contact surface inside the food supplier's production facility through routine testing.
A listeria infection can cause serious and even fatal health issues especially in the elderly, young children and those whose immune systems are compromised. Healthy individuals who are infected may experience severe headache, nausea, high fever or stiffness.
Consumers who have already bought these packaged sandwiches are instructed to return them where they bought the food items to get their money back. If they have any questions, they can call Starbucks at 1-800-224-7630 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday EST.
Progressive Gourmet, the supplier of the questionable sandwiches, is already working closely with the US FDA along with the Department of Health. It is also continuing its investigation to find out the source of the problem, according to the FDA.
"As soon as we were made aware of a supplier issue with a specific lot of Sausage, Egg and Cheddar Breakfast sandwiches, we removed the impacted product from the select Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas area stores that carried it," a spokesperson of Starbuck told NBC news in a company email on Monday.
