14 DAY TRIAL // This past April 4, Rich Products Corporation went public with the news that they were to voluntarily recall about 10 million pounds of frozen pizza on account of their being believed to have been contaminated with E. coli O121 (i.e. Escherichia coli O121 bacteria).
Information made available to the public says that the frozen pizzas targeted by this recall were all produced at the company's facility in Waycross, Georgia.
Despite their initially recalling just a limited number of Farm Rich and Market Day products, Rich Products Corporation eventually decided to expand the recall and pull all of the products produced at said facility whose “Best By” dates ranged from January 1, 2013 to September 29, 2014.
The company's official website explains that their expanding the recall was a direct result of the US Centers for Disease Control announcing that a total of 24 cases of E. coli had thus far been reported in 15 American states.
However, the company wishes to stress the fact that, for the time being, the products now also included in the recall are yet to be proven to be contaminated with the aforementioned bacteria.
“While Rich Products is unaware of any illnesses associated with the products included in the expanded recall, its unwavering safety commitment to its customers caused it to take this action,” reads the company's website.
“When it became apparent to us that, despite the expertise of the USDA, the FDA, the scientific community and our own experts, identification of a specific cause was not going to be a simple or short process, we decided to act proactively to expand the recall,” stated Bill Gisel, the company's current president and chief executive officer.
Specialists explain that the symptoms more often associated with E. coli contamination are abdominal cramps, diarrhea and blood in the stool. Furthermore, some people might develop a fever.
Despite the fact that most healthy adults are expected to make a full recovery within 5-10 days, children and the elderly run the risk of experiencing health complications, which might cause their kidneys to fail.
Specific information concerning the products targeted by this recall is made available here.