Consuming food contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a possibly fatal infection that affects mostly older adults and people with weakened immune systems. For healthy individuals, it can cause symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
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Listeria is caused by eating food contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety for Costco, said that people can either discard the product or return them at the store to get a complete refund. One person died, and other 18 fell ill.
Kroger is removing these items from store shelves and is initiating its customer recall notification system which alerts customers who may have purchased products through register receipt tape messages and phone calls.
Sacramento-area branches of Costco and Trader Joe’s are the latest two chains to be affected by the ongoing Listeria outbreak and have pulled all products involved in two separate multistate recalls of potentially contaminated food accordingly.
As mentioned before not only frozen fruits and vegetables may be the source of a Listeria outbreak but also raw milk, some cheese products, and caramel apples.
The CDC has linked CRF products to the sickening of seven people from three states, the release noted. Products have best by dates of April 26, 2016, thru April 26, 2018, and may have been purchased in all fifty US states and the following Canadian Provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan. On pregnant women, it can cause stillbirth, premature delivery, miscarriages and other unsafe infections in newborns.
Carlos Illingworth, spokesperson for Albertsons-Safeway in southern California, said, “We have product affected by the voluntary recall, and it is being removed from sale”. It was only recently, however, that the outbreak was traced to frozen vegetables, prompting the recall.
Ajinomoto Windsor recalled products on May 7, 2016, including chicken entrees and pot pies, that used green beans. If they do not know the source of their frozen vegetable products, they should check with the supplier. This week, CRF recalled all its products, shipped nationwide and to Canada.
CRF suspended operations at its Pasco facility on April 25.
Gene Grabowski, spokesperson for CRF Frozen Foods, said it’s “just as a precaution to go that far back”. Wash your hands carefully after handling these products.
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A full list of affected products can be found on the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website. “Consumers with questions may call the company’s consumer hotline at 844-483-3866, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.to 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time”.
