Infant dies, 10 sick during listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat meat

An infant has died and 10 adults have been sickened during a four-state listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat meat products, officials said.

The outbreak has been linked to ready-to-eat meat produced by Yu Shang Food, Inc. in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an update Friday.

Among those sickened were one person each in New York and New Jersey states, two in Illinois and seven in California, including the child who died. All have self-identified as having Asian heritage, the CDC said.

The infant who died was a twin whose sibling also died, but whose death could not be linked to listeria. Their pregnant mother was also ill but recovered, the CDC said.

“Listeria was found in a sample from the mother and from one of the twin infants, but could not be found in a sample from the other infant,” the update said.

Another infant, apparently unrelated to the twins, became ill and also recovered, it said.

Of the eight people who became ill, seven shopped at markets where Yu Shang Food products are sold, and two said they remembered eating Yu Shang Food chicken, the CDC update said.

Contaminated products were discovered during a routine inspection of the Yu Shang Food factory by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors on Oct. 21, leading to a recall on Nov. 9 and an expanded recall on Thursday, according to a USDA statement.

Inspectors eventually found Listeria monocytogenes on meat products produced at the plant, the USDA said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Yu Shang Food said the company suspended operations and conducted a recall after the USDA found contaminated products during a monthly routine sample test.

“We have been working very closely with the Food Safety Agency to prevent listeria contamination in the future by implementing good sanitation practices in production,” the spokesperson told NBC News. “We will seek advice from food safety experts if we are to provide safe products to our customers in the future.”

The CDC said its investigators determined a genetic footprint for listeria in the outbreak and determined it was the same for all cases. “This suggests that people in this outbreak became ill from the same food,” the CDC said in its update.

The recall covers nearly two dozen varieties of prepared meats that include “Braised Pork Belly In Brown Sauce,” “Seasoned Chicken Quarter Leg” and “Braised Beef Shank,” according to the USDA.

The recalled products were produced before October 28 and marked inside the USDA inspection marks as “P-46684” or “EST. M46684.”

The products is sold by at least four retailers, including 99 Ranch Market.

Anyone with the recalled products was encouraged to discard them, the USDA said. Freezers and refrigerators that contained the product should be carefully cleaned, the CDC said.

Exposure to listeria can cause life-threatening illness in older adults, those with weakened immune systems, pregnant women and newborns, the USDA said.

Listeria infection is the third-leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the United States, the CDC said.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions and diarrhea, the CDC said. For pregnant women, it can infect newborns, it said, and for the elderly it can cause fatal infections.