(RxWiki News) Even when no illnesses have been reported, sometimes concerns about food safety can cause a stir. That was the case this week, as several companies announced food contamination worries. Luckily, no reports of consumers becoming ill have developed.
Three companies have recalled food this week due to concerns of contamination with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.
The recalled products include a variety of premade salads sold in a number of outlets across the US.
"Check your kitchen for recalled products."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), listeriosis, or infection with Listeria, usually affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems, but sometimes other people can be affected. Symptoms vary depending on the person, but commonly include fever, muscle aches, headache, confusion, loss of balance, stiff neck and diarrhea.
In pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriage, premature delivery or a serious infection in the newborn. In older people or those with weakened immune systems, meningitis or septicemia, a serious infection that progresses quickly, can develop, CDC reported.
The Listeria-related recalls came first from the companies Boston Salads and Prepared Foods and Reser's Fine Foods, Inc.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Boston Salads and Prepared Foods has recalled several prepared salads due to concerns about contamination with Listeria. The recalled products include potato salad, seafood and shrimp salad and tuna salad.
The FDA reported that the products were distributed to retail stores and wholesale and food service distributors throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia and Maine.
The Reser's Fine Foods recall involved a variety of products including pasta salad, cole slaw, potato salad and seafood salad. According to the FDA, the products were manufactured in Topeka, Kansas and distributed across the US and Canada to retail and food service establishments.
After the Reser's recall was announced, Taylor Farms Tennessee, Inc. and Taylor Farms Maryland, Inc. voluntarily recalled a limited number of products that contained ingredients recalled by Reser's.
The Taylor Farms products in question include salad kits sold at deli counters in a number of outlets, including Mars Supermarkets, Winn Dixie and Shoprite stores in over 20 US states.
Taylor Farms has been no stranger to food safety news this year. Another branch of the company, Taylor Farms de Mexico, was involved with this summer's Cyclospora outbreaks in Iowa and Nebraska which sickened over 200 people in those two states.
The FDA noted that there have been no reported illnesses or complaints associated with any of the recalled products.
Consumers who think they may have purchased the products in question should check product codes on the labels with product codes recalled by the FDA. Any recalled items should be discarded.
