In one of the larger food recalls to date, this summer Cargill Meat Solutions voluntarily recalled about 36 million pounds of ground turkey meat on fears it was contaminated with Salmonella bacteria, possibly the drug-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg strain.
The company also halted production at its Springdale, Ark., plant for a few weeks until the source of the strain was discovered. The cause? Sanitary concerns, which were addressed by improving antibacterial technology in the chilling system, adding antibacterial sprays in the harvest line and requiring Springdale meat suppliers to include Cargill’s antibacterial technology in the harvest process.