Over 286,000 pounds of suspected tainted meat and poultry were recalled Monday by New York-based Gourmet Boutique after tests revealed the food could contain the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria causes ailment and even death, and could be transferred through common food items even if properly stored in cold facilities

Some 286,000 pounds of fresh and frozen meat products have been pulled out of the market over the weekend due to possible contamination with Listeria bacteria, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said.

The Department of Agriculture's food safety arm issued a statement Saturday detailing the Class I recall it gave on fresh and frozen beef, pork, turkey, and chicken products from Gourmet Boutique, a Jamaica, Queens-based food manufacturer

Health authorities in South Korea have placed under quarantine a soldier who developed high fever while culling chickens and ducks to contain an outbreak of bird flu in the country.

The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention found the 22-year-old corporal to be infected with an H5 strain of the deadly avian influenza virus on Sunday, when he suffered high fever, a symptom of bird flu, according to the JoongAng Daily. He will remain under quarantine until further laboratory tests confirm whether or not the virus is the deadly H5N1 strain

Authorities have decided to cull thousands of chickens and imposed restrictions on import of poultry after confirming a fresh outbreak of bird flu in the country's northeastern Tripura state.

Samples of dead poultry from villages in Mohanpur under West Tripura district sent to the High Security Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Bhopal last week tested positive, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported quoting sources

A case of human to human transmission of the virus H5N1 has been confirmed by China health officials.

Researchers said that a 52 year old father was infected by his 24 year old son with the virus. The father survived but the son died