Dole Fresh Vegetables, makers of bagged salads and pre-chopped vegetables, has recalled over 1,000 cases of their salad, citing a possible contamination of listeria. The recall comes after the bacteria was found in a case in North Carolina.
Dole’s official statement:
This precautionary recall notification is being issued due to an isolated instance in which a sample of Marketside Leafy Romaine salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test conducted by the State of North Carolina.
Listeria is a serious type of food poisoning which causes stomach issues, fever, and muscle aches and pains and is especially dangerous to pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems. So far the recall is simply precautionary, as there have been no reports of illness yet, but the company says the products could have been purchased and taken home before merchants pulled them off the shelves. The affected states include Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and South Carolina and so far the only stores known to carry the affected products are Kroger and Wal-Mart.
The products include Kroger Fresh Selections Greener Supreme, Kroger Fresh Selections Leafy Romaine, and Wal-Mart Marketside Leafy Romaine.