Dole Recalls More Of Its Pre-Packaged Salads Due To Possible Listeria
Dole Fresh Vegetables has had to issue a second recall of packaged salads due to listeria contamination at processing facilities at Springfield, Ohio, and Soledad, California. The first recall took occurred on December 22 when Dole's Bessemer City and Yuma facilities had realized that listeria-bearing packages of salad have gone to a large portion of the country. According to a notice shared by the FDA, this recall came after learning that the equipment used to harvest iceberg lettuce was contaminated.
Like the previous recall, almost every state in the country should closely inspect their Dole packaged salads. The Springfield facility's products went to roughly two dozen states, including Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Soledad facility served 30 states, including Arizona, California, Hawaii, Mississippi, Maryland, North Dakota, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
Furthermore, this recall is international. In Canada, a warning has gone out in New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec for salads prepared by the Springfield facility while the Soledad one has sent contaminated goods to Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
Which items are a risk?
The vastness of the area that the compromised processing facilities served is only matched by that of the contamination potential posed by the recalled products. After all, iceberg lettuce is a pretty foundational ingredient for most salads. The list is massive, including foods sold with HEB, Marketside, and Kroger. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of listeria infection include (among other things) chills, muscle aches, headaches, convulsions, and balance problems. It is potentially life-threatening.
If you have bought a prepared salad, salad bowl, or just a bag of chopped lettuce produced by Dole, you are well-advised to check the product's lot code and best by date. As stated in the FDA notice, packages from Springfield with best-by dates between December 22 and January 9 and a lot code that starts with "W" are subject to the recall. It also applies to packages from Soledad with best-by dates between December 23 and January 8 and a lot code that starts with "B." If you still have a salad lingering, you should discard it immediately.