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Public health alert for Ivar’s, Pike Place Fish Market packaged soups

A Seattle fishmonger stands near a display of locally harvested clams, muscles and oysters at on July 10, 2021, at Pike Place Market in Seattle. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Vonnai Phair Seattle Times

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert for several Ivar’s ready-to-eat soups and one from Pike Place Fish Market.

These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase. People should not consume them, FSIS said.

The soups were shipped to retail sites nationwide and exported to Mexico. FSIS urges people to check their refrigerators and freezers for the soups.

The following soups might have been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions, which could result in the product spoiling prematurely, FSIS said:

  • 48-ounce packages containing two 24-ounce cups of “Ivar’s Puget Sound Clam Chowder with Bacon” with use-by dates: April 26 and 27, 2023; May 3, 4, 5, 11, 23 and 30, 2023; June 2, 6 and 7, 2023; July 5 and 20, 2023; and Aug. 1, 10 and 17, 2023.
  • 48-ounce packages containing two 24-ounce cups of “Ivar’s Loaded Baked Potato Soup” with use-by dates: May 9 and 19, 2023; June 16, 2023 and July 18, 2023.
  • 48-ounce packages containing two 24-ounce cups of “Ivar’s Rustic Zuppa Toscana Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup” with use-by dates: April 30, 2023 and May 2, 14, 15, 21, 22 and 30, 2023.
  • 20-ounce cup of “Ivar’s Puget Sound Clam Chowder with Bacon” with use-by dates: April 26, 2023, May 5, 2023, June 6, 2023, July 20, 2023 and Aug. 10, 2023.
  • 20-ounce cup of “Pike Place Fish Market World Famous Clam Chowder with Bacon” with use-by dates: May 4, 2023, July 5, 2023 and Aug. 1, 2023.

FSIS did not request a recall because the products are no longer available for purchase.

There have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the soups, according to FSIS.

Consumption of food contaminated with spoilage organisms can cause illness in immunocompromised individuals.

Consumers submitted complaints to Ivar’s and Pike Place Fish Market regarding bloated soup packages, FSIS said. The establishments then notified FSIS, and upon further review, found some soups had spoiled prematurely.

Since November, 500,000 cups of Ivar’s soup have been distributed to retail stores. Out of those, 24 tested positive for having spoilage bacteria, said Bob Donegan the president of Ivar’s. All packaged Ivar’s soups are manufactured at the company’s chowder plant in Mukilteo.

The plant has ceased production of soups since Friday to investigate the source of the bacterial contamination. Ivar’s has tested all batches of soup produced at the plant since November and found the contamination took place in the packaging or chilling process, he said.

The contamination was caused by pseudomonas, a common bacterium found in the environment, like in air and soil, Donegan said.

“We disassembled the plant, took all the equipment apart, disinfected it, took swab samples of every surface and sent them to the lab to confirm that there is no pseudomonas left on the equipment or in the plant,” Donegan said.

No other Ivar’s products, like the frozen bagged soups Ivar’s sells to other restaurants or uses in its stores, have been impacted by the spoilage bacteria, Donegan said.

Pike Place Fish Market was not available to provide more information early Wednesday.

Ivar’s customers can email souphelp@keepclam.com to get a refund of refrigerated soup cups. Consumers with questions about the public health alert can contact Ivar’s Soup Co. director of technical services Robert Green at robertg@keepclam.com. Consumers with food-safety questions can call the toll-free USDA meat and poultry hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854).