Castleberry plant triggers recall over botulism

WASHINGTON — The government warned consumers and retailers Monday to take urgent action to rid their shelves of more than 90 different products, from chili sauce to corned beef hash to dog food, produced at an Augusta, Ga., plant linked to a botulism outbreak.

Castleberry's Food Co. closed the suspect plant.

"You're talking tens of millions of cans that may have been involved," said Robert Brackett, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

The company has hired an outside firm to visit more than 8,500 retailers around the country in an effort to quickly get recalled products off store shelves.

So far, four cases of botulism have been reported — two from Indiana and two from Texas. All four people consumed Hot Dog Chili Sauce Original, a product made by Castleberry's.

On Saturday, Castleberry's expanded its voluntary recall of canned meat products. It specified more than 80 types of canned chili, beef stew, corned beef hash and other meat products in addition to the 10 products it had recalled Thursday. The products were sold under a multitude of brand names.

Although Castleberry is recalling everything made on the one manufacturing line, the only products linked to illness thus far are the chili sauces.

Company officials said they were working closely with the FDA and the Department of Agriculture to determine just how widespread the problem is. They could not provide information about how many of the recalled products were still on store shelves.

"So that we can devote all available resources to this investigation, we agreed to shut down our entire facility in Augusta. We will not process any more food there until the FDA and the USDA agrees it is appropriate to reopen," said Dave Melbourne, senior vice president for Castleberry's. "And, we have stopped all further product distribution from our centers."

The plant is expected to be closed for about a week, he said.

Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by consuming foods with the botulinim toxin, a nerve toxin that can cause paralysis of the arms, breathing muscles and legs. Symptoms, such as blurred vision and slurred speech, generally begin 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated food.

Typically, commercially canned foods are heated long enough and to high enough temperatures to kill the spores. Melbourne confirmed that the botulism occurred in the chili sauce because the product was undercooked.