Butterball Is Recalling Almost 80,000 Pounds Of Ground Turkey

Thanksgiving feast titans, Butterball, announced today that they are recalling 78,000+ pounds of ground turkey for fear it might be contaminated with salmonella. At this point, they haven't said how this may have happened. But it's a pretty steep recall.

As many years as I was in the restaurant industry, I was sort of always led to believe that raw turkey was a gateway to food poisoning, such as salmonella. that's why it always had to be cooked to at least 165 degrees. So one must assume that if they're recalling the products, they must be pretty much glowing in the dark with salmonella.

Here is a list from WMTW - TV8 with most of the products in question:

• 48-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (85% LEAN/15% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188, and UPC codes 22655-71555 or 22655-71557 represented on the label.
• 48-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (93% LEAN/7% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC code 22655-71556 represented on the label.
• 16-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (85% LEAN/15% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC code 22655-71546 represented on the label.
• 16-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (93% LEAN/7% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC codes 22655-71547 or 22655-71561 represented on the label

There were also a couple of brand/store specific products affected as well, Kroger's and Food Lion, but those stores aren't in Maine, that I know of. All the turkey in question was produced and packaged on July 7th, 2018 with a sell-by of July 26th. So it's likely sitting in your freezer if you have any of the potentially tainted meat. Also, if you look at the USDA marking on the packaging, affected products will also have the marking 'EST. P-7345'.

Butterball stated at their website that the only illnesses reported were in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and it was only four cases total. But they issued the recall as soon as they became positively aware.

So please.... check your stuff out and make sure you don't have any of the meat. And presumably, you should be able to return any of it to the point of purchase. At the very least... throw it away, and for the love of all that's holy in the world, don't eat it!!!

....Or gobble it up. (insert eye roll emoji)