Possible Listeria contamination is impacting meals served to thousands of Philadelphia School District students

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The Philadelphia School District told families Friday that meals served to thousands of preschool and K-12 students in nearly 200 schools are subject to a nationwide food recall.

“Today, Whitsons Culinary Group notified the School District of Philadelphia that certain chicken products supplied to our preschools or K-12 schools as part of a meal program are the subject of a nationwide recall due to possible contamination with listeria monocytogenes,” said Oz Hill, interim deputy superintendent of operations, in an online message to families.

According to the USDA, the recall originated in Oklahoma. One supplier, BrucePac, has recalled nearly 10 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.

The school district said the impacted meals and appointments for preschoolers are as follows:

• Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo served October 8th.

• Chicken strips, honey, mustard, green beans and chicken, Caribbean pineapple sauce, rice, carrots, served between October 4th and 10th.

For K-12 students:

• Chicken with BBQ sauce, rice, baked beans, served September 23rd.

Dr. Angela Skrzynski with Virtua Health says symptoms can be flu-like but may not appear until days or weeks later.

“You may not even know you have taken listeria. You'll think you have the flu or COVID-19 and your test will come back negative for those things and you'll recover and move on with your life, thank God,” Skrzynski said.

The CDC says listeria infections are rare but can be serious, especially for vulnerable groups. However, the risks are low for non-vulnerable populations.

“Very rarely will someone between the ages of 2 and 50, I think it’s even 60, who is healthy become seriously ill,” Skrzynski said.

Out of an abundance of caution, the school district says it is removing all remaining items from the school lunch menu.

“This item will no longer be delivered to your child in the future. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected] or call 215-400-5600,” Hill said.

The Philadelphia Department of Health says there have been no confirmed reports of side effects locally, and the USDA says the same across the country.

Click here to view a list of affected schools.