Choyce Products, in conjunction with the FDA, is recalling 5,452 pounds of frozen Yellowfin Tuna because it may be contaminated with Salmonella.
Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illness such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
The recalled product was sold on Oahu and probably reached consumers in a mixed, pre-frozen, seafood product. The company bought the tuna from a mainland distributor who stated that the fish was from Indonesia.
Consumers were sold the tuna in a frozen cube which was packaged in a white cardboard shipping box that contained 22 pounds of the tuna. The cardboard boxes each hold 11 packages of the 2 lb. vacuum packed product which are in unlabeled plastic bags.
Stickers on the shipping boxes have the following codes:
Lot Number 0727408005899 with Production Dates October 1 and 2, 2007
Lot Number 0725008005899 with Production Date September 7, 2007
Lot Number 0726408005899 with Production Date September 21, 2007
Choyce sold the tuna to consumers before it learned of the potential for contamination. The FDA and the state of Hawaii are investigating many vendors because of reports of salmonella illness from October 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007. Even though the source has not been identified the company will destroy all the returned and inventoried recalled yellowfin tuna.
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