WASHINGTON – Approximately 39,755 lbs. of rotisserie chicken products that may be contaminated with a strain of Salmonella Heidelberg is being voluntarily recalled by Costco’s El Camino Real store in South San Francisco, Calif., according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).Concerns about an outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg illnesses that may be associated with the consumption of rotisserie chicken products prepared in the Costco El Camino Real store initiated the recall.

The products are linked to a USDA public health alert issued this past week that implicated the products were Foster Farms brand chicken and other chicken produced at Foster Farms' facilities are the likely source of the outbreak. The Kroger Co. recently announced it had removed the affected Foster Farms raw chicken products from store shelves earlier this week and notified customers that they may have bought contaminated meat.

Working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the California Department of Public Health and the County of San Mateo Public Health Department, FSIS determined through epidemiologic and traceback investigations there is a link between the Costco El Camino Real rotisserie chicken products and this illness outbreak.

The PFGE pattern (0258) associated with this outbreak is rarely reported in the United States. This group of illnesses is part of a larger cluster of Salmonella Heidelberg illnesses that are known to be multi-drug resistant.

Products subject to recall are 8,730 “Kirkland Signature Foster Farms” rotisserie chickens; 313 total units of “Kirkland Farm” rotisserie chicken soup, rotisserie chicken leg quarters; and rotisserie chicken salad. These products were sold between Sept. 11 and Sep. 23, 2013, to consumers in the Costco store located at 1600 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, Calif.