New York food safety officials are telling shoppers across the country to throw away a ready-to-eat smoked fish product after state laboratory testing found Listeria monocytogenes in some packages. The product is the 8-ounce Starfish Seafood Cold Smoked Seafood Trio, which combines salmon, halibut, and trout. It was distributed nationwide by Krasnyi Oktyabr USA Inc. of Brooklyn, according to a consumer alert issued Thursday, Oct. 1, by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
No illnesses have been linked to the product so far. In its alert, the department said, "To date, no illnesses have been reported to the Department associated with this product." Still, smoked fish is usually eaten straight from the package, so any contamination reaches the plate without a cooking step to kill bacteria.
