Bumble Bee Foods and Tri-Union Seafoods both issued recalls of tuna products after finding out that their tuna may have been contaminated during the manufacturing process.
The two companies used the same Georgia production facility (owned by Tri-Union Seafoods and leased to Bumble Bee), which is why the recall is so large in scope. It is believed that tuna manufactured and canned at the facility may have been under processed and undercooked as a result of a machinery defect.
The potential defective products were discovered when company workers were conducting a routine inspection. The employees reportedly came across a machine part that was malfunctioning, according to the vice president of Quality and Compliance for Chicken of the Sea.
Shortly after becoming aware of the possible negative health consequences of consuming the canned tuna products, Bumble Bee Foods announced that it would be recalling 31,579 cases of its canned Chunk Light Tuna, while Tri-Union Seafoods said that it needed to recall 2,745 cases of its Chicken of the Sea brand of tuna.
Although consumer health was cited as the primary reason for both recalls, Bumble Bee officials were careful to mention that there had been no actual reported illnesses from anyone who consumed the company’s tuna. Further, a company spokesperson said that the recall was being issued “out of an abundance of caution.”
The machinery part that was malfunctioning at the production facility was reportedly replaced, with officials for both Bumble Bee and Tri-Union hoping that no future recalls will be necessary in order to protect consumer health.
In the meantime, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working with the tuna manufacturers to make sure that potentially contaminated products are removed from store shelves.
For more information on this consumer product recall, see the CNN.com article, “Bumble Bee Foods, Tri-Union Seafoods Recall Canned Chunk Light Tuna.”
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