"Jennie-o" news and stories

Check your freezer: Jennie-O Turkey Store is recalling almost 55,000 pounds of frozen turkey burgers that may be contaminated with Salmonella, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The recall applies for all packages of a raw turkey product: "All Natural Turkey Burgers with seasonings Lean White Meat" with a "use by" date of December 23, 2011. But if you're not a Sam's Club member, you can breathe easier -- the patties, sold in 4-pound boxes containing 12 patties, are found exclusively at Sam's Club, Jennie-O said on its recall website.

Three people in Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin fell ill after eating the Jennie-O ground turkey, leading the FSIS to determine there is a link between the product and the outbreak, the agency said on its website. Salmonella infections can be life-threatening for those with weak immune systems.

Last week, I found myself shopping for a turkey the day before I needed to cook it. Finding a fresh bird a month before Thanksgiving was something of a challenge but we managed to do it (although the guy at Whole Foods gave Scott attitude when he called to ensure they had a bird). We got lucky with the fresh bird, but there are times when you won't be so lucky and all there will be at the grocery store is a sea of frozen birds.

For those of you to whom this has happened the night before Thanksgiving, take heart. Jennie-O has created a bird that can go straight from freezer section to oven. You don't even have to clean or season it. Over at the Epi-Log, Michael Y. Park took this Frankenbird out for a spin and over all has good things to say about it. It seems a little suspect to me, as it gets cooked in a plastic bag (a practice I've never really trusted) and I don't totally understand how it could be safe to cook a frozen turkey, but apparently it is.

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