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The salmonella Heidelberg illnesses tied to chicken has continued to afflict the United States. Costco's El Camino Real store located in South San Francisco, CA has issued a huge recall of its rotisserie chicken. The recall of 9,034 units, which is around 39,755 lbs., was announced by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The products, which are 8,730 units of "Kirkland Signature Foster Farms" rotisserie chickens and 313 units of "Kirkland Farm" rotisserie chicken soup, rotisserie chicken leg quarters and rotisserie chicken salad, have been tied to the outbreak. These products were sold between Sept 11 and Sept 23.

The recall was spurred on after inspectors from FSIS, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the California Department of Public Health and the County of San Mateo Public Health Department, tied the rotisserie chicken products to salmonella Heidelberg illnesses. According to the investigation, some of the cases have been linked to the salmonella Heidelberg illnesses that are multi-drug resistant, which makes treatment harder for doctors.

Costco has announced that consumers with any questions regarding the recall should contact the company at 1(800) 774-2678. Due to the government shutdown, the USDA has not updated its website regarding this recent outbreak.

Earlier this month, the USDA announced that the source of the salmonella outbreak that affected people from 18 different states was chicken. The chicken, which came from three Foster Farms' facilities in California, had traces of salmonella Heidelberg. However, the company did not issue a voluntary recall since the USDA stated that the contamination was most likely due to poorly cooked and poorly handled chicken. Over 300 people have gotten sick. 

The FSIS continues to remind people to cook their chicken thoroughly. People must also clean their hands after touching raw chicken to reduce the likelihood of contamination. If people start experiencing symptoms, such as diarrhea, they should immediately contact their doctors. The USDA press release can be found here.