Dole Withdraws Potentially Listeria-Laden Salad Greens From Stores

Beginning back in September, twelve people in six different states have become sick with the same strain of Listeria. The common link between the patients was that they had recently eaten bagged salad. When routine state government testing of lettuce from a Dole packaging plant in Ohio turned up the same strain of Listeria, the answer was clear. Now, Dole has withdrawn affected greens from the market.

It’s not a formal “recall,” since Dole isn’t offering refunds to consumers, but they aren’t exactly urging you to eat any affected salads either. “Retailers and consumers who have any remaining product with an “A” code should not consume it, and are urged to discard it,” the market withdrawal notice says.

What should you look for, so you can not eat it? Dole, it turns out, also processes salad greens for private-label brands. Affected brands include:

• Dole
• Fresh Selections (Kroger family of stores)
• Simple Truth (Organic brand at Kroger)
• Marketside (Walmart)
• The Little Salad Bar (Aldi)
• President’s Choice (Canadian brand sold at Loblaws-owned stores)

What you should look for is the production code: the letter A means that it came from the affected facility in Ohio.

If you have any questions about whether your product is affected, or about the market withdrawal in general, call Dole at 800-356-3111. You can call Dole even if your product is from one of the private-label brands.

Listeriosis usually begins with diarrhea or other gastrointestinal distress, and other symptoms include fever and muscle aches. If healthy people show symptoms at all, it resembles the flu. Infection can be especially serious in very young children, elderly people, pregnant women, or anyone who is otherwise in frail health. It can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women, and meningitis in adults in poor health.

Dole Fresh Vegetables Announces Voluntary Withdrawal for Salads [FDA]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist