Trader Joe’s recall: Suspect frozen chicken affects 14 states

Trader Joe's recall involves a batch of Butter Chicken with Basmanti Rice frozen dinners, which may be contaminated with listeria. Trader Joe's advises customers to throw away the affected product or return it for a full refund. 

Supermarket chain Trader Joe’s is recalling boxes of a frozen chicken dinner due to possible contamination with listeria.

The product, Trader Joe’s Butter Chicken with Basmanti Rice, was sold to stores in 14 eastern US states and the Washington, D.C. area.

"All code dates of this product have been removed from sale and destroyed," Trader Joe's told customers via an update on its website. "To date, we have received no reports of illness related to this product.”

The recall is being conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Alberta Canada-based Aliya Foods LTD., the distributor for the affected product. All the affected product was shipped to the United States, the Canadian agency says. The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service posted an alert on its website on Friday, Nov. 30.

The affected meals were produced on Oct. 31 of this year. The date on the box reads “305 12” – a Julian calendar date coding, according to Trader Joe’s.

The recall involves Trader Joe’s locations in the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Customers who have purchased the product should not eat it; throw it away, or return it to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund.

Customers with questions should call Trader Joe's at 626-599-3817.

In a separate Trader Joe’s recall, the Centers for Disease Control announced that a salmonella outbreak first linked to a Trader Joe’s peanut butter variety finally appears to be over.

Throughout the fall, health officials were working to contain the effects of a salmonella contamination at the Sunland, Inc. nut processing facility, which supplied nut butters and other nut based products to major grocery chain nationwide. The problem started with a recall of Trader Joe’s Creamy Valencia salted peanut butter and expanded to include hundreds of products distributed through Sunland’s facility in Portales, N.M.  Authorities linked 42 illnesses in 20 states to the salmonella outbreak at Sunland . The Food and Drug Administration shut down the Sunland facility last week.