Canned tuna sold at Trader Joe’s and Costco recalled due to serious health risk

Several brands of canned tuna sold at grocers including Costco and Trader Joe’s have been recalled over the risk of potentially fatal food poisoning.

The tuna was sold under the brand names Trader Joe’s, Genova, Van Camp’s and H-E-B and were distributed in 26 US states.

Tri-Union Seafoods announced the recall on Friday because the ‘“easy open” pull tab can lid on limited products encountered a manufacturing defect that may compromise the integrity of the product seal (especially over time), causing it to leak, or worse, be contaminated with clostridium botulinum,’ states a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory.

Botulism is a rare disease that attacks the body’s nerves and causes muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing and death, according to the US centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

‘Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled,’ states the advisory. ‘Consumers feeling unwell should seek immediate medical attention.’

Five products were affected, including cans with the H-E-B label in Texas, Genova 7 ounce cans sold at Costco’s in Florida and Georgia, and Van Camp’s label cans sold at Walmart and independent retailers in Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Tuna under the Trader’s Joe brand are subject to the recall in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC, and Wisconsin.

Genova 5 ounce cans are affected if they were distributed by Harris Teeter, Publix, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart, and independent retailers in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas.

The recall was voluntarily issued and there have been no reports of sickness or death.

It comes just weeks after several chocolate and candy products were recalled in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia over undeclared ingredients including milk that could ’cause serious adverse health consequences or death’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.