Health officials warn of deadly salmonella in frozen chicken tenders, nuggets and kievs, following 14 outbreaks sickening 200 people

Health officials have warned Americans of the risks of contracting deadly food poisoning from convenient frozen chicken products, like kievs, tenders and nuggets.

In a newly published memo, the USDA has announced plans to reduce the number of salmonella-infected chicken items on grocery store shelves — following recent outbreaks in at least 36 states.

Salmonella is one of the most common forms of food poisoning in the US which hospitalizes around 26,000 citizens every year.  It is usually linked to undercooked meat, poultry and eggs.

There have been 14 multi-state outbreaks of the disease linked to chicken products alone since 1998 sickening a total of at least 200 people — including one in 2021.

Officials say more than 1.3million Americans are sickened by salmonella every year, while 420 die from the infections.

Salmonella — which lives in chicken intestines — can easily be transfered onto cuts like thighs and breasts during processing.

It could then survive if meat is not cooked to 165F (74C) before being eaten. This is often the case with breaded products, which are only slightly heated to set the batter.

People who eat salmonella-contaminated meat may become sick because the microbe can survive the stomach acid and then trigger an infection in the intestines.

Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever.

In more serious cases, however, the disease can progress to dehydration — from fluid loss — and septicemia if the microbe enters the bloodstream.

Infections may prove fatal if the infection triggers endocarditis — or inflammation of the heart lining — or meningitis, inflammation of membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Current rules allow up to 10 percent of chicken products tested to contain salmonella, as per the USDA. It is assumed the salmonella will be killed off when the meat is cooked.

But under revised guidelines currently being considered, the microbe would be declared an ‘adulterant’ — or a contaminant that could cause foodborne illness.

This would see the ‘safe’ threshold shifted from batch percentages to the amount of the bug on each gram of chicken. 

Less than one colony-forming unit of salmonella per gram of chicken would be allowed prior to stuffing and breading.

Products found to be in breach of the rule, set to come into force in 2025, would not be allowed on store shelves and any found to contain too much salmonella would be subject to a recall.

The USDA says this is an important step towards meeting its goal of reducing domestically-acquired salmonella infections by 25 percent by 2030.

But the National Chicken Council — which represents manufacturers — has slammed it as risking shuttering plants, costing jobs and raising the price of chicken.

It added in a statement: ‘[This could] take safe food and convenient products off shelves, without moving the needle on public health.’ 

Brian Ronholm, the director of food policy at Consumer Reports, applauded the decision — saying: ‘Salmonella contamination in poultry sickens hundreds of thousands of Americans every year.

‘The USDA’s new rule on salmonella in breaded and raw chicken products is a historic development in the effort to reduce salmonella illness rates.

‘This rule should represent just the beginning and will hopefully lead to additional efforts to address salmonella contamination in other poultry products.’

One of the latest outbreaks was recorded in 2021, where breaded chicken was linked to at least three dozen illnesses in 11 states. Twelve people were also hospitalized.

Most of the cases were in Illinois, but infections were reported across the country — including in New York, Connecticut, Minnesota and as far away as Arizona and Nevada.