Aspen Foods, a division of Chicago-based Koch Poultry Co., is recalling nearly 2 million pounds of frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken product that may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The recall involves frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken items produced between April 15, 2015 and July 10, 2015 with “best if used by" dates between July 14, 2016 and Oct. 10, 2016. The recalled products bear the establishment number “P-1358" inside the USDA mark of inspection. This product was shipped to retail stores and foodservice locations nationwide.

FSIS was notified of a cluster of Salmonella Enteritidis illnesses on June 23, 2015. Working in conjunction with Minnesota State Departments of Health and Agriculture, FSIS determined that there is a link between the frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken products from Aspen Foods and this illness cluster. Based on epidemiological evidence and traceback investigations, three case-patients have been identified in Minnesota with illness onset dates ranging from May 9, 2015 to June 8, 2015.

Poultry, particularly chicken, has been a hot-button food safety issue for the past few years. In October 2013, Foster Farms worked with USDA’s FSIS and the Centers for Disease Control to issue a public health alert after reports that 278 illnesses in 18 states were caused by strains of Salmonella Heidelberg associated with raw chicken products produced by Foster Farms at three facilities in California. This was not the first time Foster Farm chicken has been implicated in a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak. A report released by CDC on July 10, 2013, concluded Foster Farms chicken was the likely source of a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg infections that sickened 134 people and hospitalized 33 in 13 states between June 4, 2012 and May 6, 2013.