Company recalls meat and poultry

NEW YORK (MCT) — Queens-based food company Gourmet Boutique is recalling more than 286,000 pounds of meat and poultry because they might be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

The voluntary recall of fresh and frozen products includes more than 30 items sent to food service and retail establishments nationwide.

Products include some types of chicken salad and sandwiches sold under the name Gourmet Boutique, and several frozen wraps and burritos sold under the names Jan's and Archer Farms.

Target sells the Archer Farms brand, but Amy Reilly, a spokeswoman for the company, said Sunday that the recalled items are sold only in SuperTarget stores.

Of the recalled items, she said, the SuperTarget stores carry only 15-ounce packages of Archer Farms Frozen Mini Beef Burrito, 9-ounce packages of Archer Farms Frozen Pulled Pork Burrito and 9-ounce packages of Archer Farms Grilled Chicken Burrito With Corn and Black Beans.

The fresh meat and poultry salad products were produced between April 19 and April 24.

The frozen products were produced between Oct. 23, 2007 and April 23, 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

The "sell by" or "best before" dates run through October.

"As soon as we were notified Friday, we pulled the items from our shelves," Reilly said. "As an extra precaution, regardless of the sell by dates, we took the products off shelves."

The problem was discovered through sampling by federal food safety inspectors and Florida agriculture officials, the USDA said.

Calls to Gourmet Boutique offices in Jamaica were not returned. A recorded message on the company's recall information hotline said corrective and preventive action had already been taken.