Nearly 12 Million Pounds of Products With Cooked Chicken Sold by Amazon, Target, Trader Joe's, Walmart, and Others Recalled for Listeria Risk

Hundreds of store-brand and brand-name products are involved, including burritos, frozen meals, and salads

By Lisa L. Gill
Investigative Reporter

Published October 15, 2024·Updated October 16, 2024

Recalled products from various brands containing cooked poultry — The recalled products include packaged foods from these and other brands.

Update Oct. 16, 2024: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the recall has expanded and now includes 11,765,285 pounds of precooked chicken. See the expanded list of products (PDF) that contain the chicken, along with new instructions on how to search the list. The article below has also been updated to reflect the latest information.

Nearly 12 million pounds of precooked chicken used in a wide variety of ready-made burritos, pastas, salad bowls, sandwiches, wraps, and other foods have been recalled due to the risk of listeria. The recall was initially announced on Oct. 9, but the list of affected products was not made available until days later.

The problem was discovered during the Department of Agriculture’s routine testing of products containing the chicken produced by BrucePac of Durant, Okla. No illnesses have been reported, but listeria can cause severe illness.

The Risk of Listeria

Listeria is a bacteria that can cause severe illness, hospitalization, and even death in high-risk populations, including very young children, those who are older, have a weakened immune system, or are pregnant. For an otherwise healthy adult, listeriosis (the illness caused by listeria) will typically resolve on its own within a few days. Symptoms can include fever, and experiencing muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

But for those who are pregnant, listeriosis poses a special risk: They are 10 times more likely than other adults to get a listeria infection. And about 20 percent of pregnant people infected with listeria will lose their baby, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

Listeriosis can also cause premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

One problem is that some listeriosis symptoms are similar to morning sickness, so a person might not recognize being sick with the infection until it has spread.

If you’re pregnant and have those symptoms, along with a temperature of 100.6° F or higher, ask your doctor for a blood test, ACOG recommends.

Lisa L. Gill

Lisa L. Gill is an award-winning investigative reporter. She has been at Consumer Reports since 2008, covering health and food safety—heavy metals in the food supply and foodborne illness—plus healthcare and prescription drug costs, medical debt, and credit scores. Lisa also testified before Congress and the Food and Drug Administration about her work on drug costs and drug safety. She lives in a DIY tiny home, where she gardens during the day and stargazes the Milky Way at night.