The USDA announced a recall of 36 million pounds of Cargill ground turkey due to a potential link with recent salmonella outbreaks.

While this outbreak has been known by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since March, authorities had a difficult time determining the the source of this dangerous strain of salmonella.

This outbreak was connected to the death of a resident of Sacramento and at least 76 other people were sickened in 26 states.

“While facts continue to be gathered, and currently there is no conclusive answer regarding the source of Salmonella Heidelberg contamination, given our concern for what has happened, and our desire to do what is right for our consumers and customers, we are voluntarily removing our ground turkey products from the marketplace,” said Steve Willardsen, president of Cargill’s turkey processing business. “Additionally, we have suspended ground turkey production at our Arkansas facility until the source can be pinpointed and actions to address it are taken. Public health and the safety of consumers cannot be compromised. It is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products and, for anyone who did, we are truly sorry. We go to great lengths to ensure the food we produce is safe and we fully understand that people expect to be able to consume safe food, each serving, every time.”

Consumers are urged to return any opened or unopened packages of ground turkey items listed on Cargill’s website (www.cargill.com/turkey-recall) to stores where they were purchased for a full refund. Cargill is working closely with its U.S. customers to make certain as much of the product is retrieved as possible. Consumers with questions about recalled ground turkey products may contact Cargill’s consumer relations toll free telephone number (1-888-812-1646).