On June 2nd the USDA-Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert for raw breaded and stuffed chicken products including chicken cordon bleu and chicken Kiev. The brand was not specified but the products are potentially contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis responsible for a cluster of cases extending from late February to early May 2021.
Raw product has yielded the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis that would have remained viable unless the product was cooked to an internal temperature of 165 F. It is possible that impacted consumers microwaved contaminated products, leading to foodborne infection from ingesting viable pathogens. Investigations are still in progress including evaluation of shoppers’ records and traceback in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and various state public health departments.