Bama company recalls 1-lb crabmeat sold in 4 southern states

IRVINGTON, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama seafood company is recalling 1-pound (0.45 kilogram) packages of crab meat because federal inspectors found listeria bacteria on cooking equipment and in the cooking room.

Irvington Seafood of Irvington, Alabama, said in a notice posted Friday on the Food and Drug Administration website that it has suspended production of the packages while it and the FDA investigate.

The recalled packages, labeled “Crabmeat: Jumbo, Lump, Finger, and Claw meat,” were sold to distributors in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

“No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem,” and no crab meat has been tested, the notice said.

Buyers can get full refunds by returning the product to the store where they bought it.

Batch numbers on the bottom of recalled containers are 130, 131, 132, 134, 137, 139, 141, 144, 145, 146,148, and 150. The company’s license number is AL 111-C.

In healthy people, Listeria monocytogenes can cause short-term fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. But it can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. It also can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.

The company said the FDA tests were on May 9 and the potential for contamination was noted May 27.