The American Heart Association recently named its 85th president, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Arkansas, Connecticut, and Texas.

• Arkansas: Tyson Foods recalled 8.5 million pounds of frozen chicken after potential exposure to listeria. Tyson Foods issued the voluntary recall after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigated three cases of listeriosis—including one death—and found evidence connecting them to frozen chicken products from the company. The frozen, fully cooked chicken products were produced between December 2020 and April 2021 and shipped to stores, hospitals, and other locations around the country. According to the New York Times, the USDA said it would continue to investigate any other potential listeriosis cases linked to these recalled products. The agency is urging consumers to throw away or return any of recalled Tyson Foods products. (Lukpat, New York Times, 7/4; Williams, The Hill, 7/4)

• Connecticut: The Connecticut Department of Public Health has warned that around 7,000 health care workers hired during the pandemic will be terminated if they are not fingerprinted for state background checks before July 20. The fingerprint check requirement, which was suspended under one of Gov. Ned Lamont's (D) public health and civil preparedness emergency orders amid the pandemic, is set to take effect once again on that date. However, stakeholders representing nursing homes and other health care facilities in the state said they are hoping the state will extend the deadline to September amid staffing shortages and concerns about the state police's capacity to address the backlog before the deadline. But Christopher Boyle, a spokesman for the Department of Public Health, said that "there are currently no plans to extend the deadline," adding that there are still "plenty of open appointments" for fingerprint checks at various police barracks. (AP/Modern Healthcare, 7/2)

• Texas: American Heart Association named Donald Lloyd-Jones as the organization's 85th president and Raymond Vara as volunteer chair of the board, effective July 1. Lloyd-Jones, chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, most recently served as the chair of AHA's Committee on Scientific Sessions Program and formerly served as chairperson for the Strategics Goals Subcommittee. Vara, CEO of Hawaii Pacific Health, was formerly treasurer for AHA. (Carbajal, Becker's Hospital Review, 7/1)