Nationwide shrimp recall spread amid more salmonella illnesses

More than two dozen shrimp products sold nationwide by retailers including Target and Whole Foods are now recalled in a salmonella outbreak that has hit nine people in four states, hospitalizing three, according to federal authorities .

Avanti Frozen Foods Private Limited India has agreed to recall additional packages, sizes and brands of frozen cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp, some sold with cocktail sauce, according to a notice released Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. Three separate recalls related to the potentially contaminated crustacean were then announced by the FDA on Saturday.

The recalled foods were distributed nationwide from November 2020 to May 2021, but may have been sold in stores more recently, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The recalled shrimp were sold from coast to coast under several labels, including Whole Food’s 365 and Hannaford’s Nature’s Promise. Potentially contaminated shrimp include tempura rolls sold at Target stores in California and frozen shrimp rings distributed by Chicken of the Sea and sold at Meijer, as well as bags of Meijer brand frozen shrimp.

Since the declaration of the end of an epidemic linked to frozen shrimp in late July, three new diseases have been identified by the CDC, the agency said on Monday. The new patient brings to nine illnesses in total in four states – Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island, three of which are serious enough to require hospitalization, the CDC said.

The expanded recall covers “a large number of products which have not been associated with any disease but [has] was undertaken as a result of discussions with the FDA and CDC, ”Avanti said in its announcement. Headquartered in Visakhapatnam, India, Avanti is partially owned by Thai Union Group, a global seafood company based in Bangkok.

Salmonella sickens nearly 1.4 million Americans each year, with about 26,500 hospitalized and 420 deaths each year, according to the CDC. The elderly and those under 5 are most at risk, the majority of them with symptoms such as fever and upset stomach.

The CDC reopened its investigation, and the FDA asked Avanti to expand its previous recall in June.

Consumers should check their freezers for shrimp and discard or return any recalled product, which can be found here.