Listeria Recall & Listeria monocytogenes latest news and information
10:27 AMListeria Recall & Listeria monocytogenes latest news and information: Frozen vegetables are a staple in many diets, so a huge recall of them has us peering at the packages in our freezers.
Fourteen
voluntary recalls have been announced related to a listeria outbreak
that has caused eight cases of illness in three states. On April 23, CRF
Frozen Foods recalled 11 of its products because of possible listeria
contamination. Then, on May 2, it expanded that recall to include all
frozen vegetable and fruit products that had been processed at its
Pasco, Washington, facility since May 2014. This accounts for 358
products sold under 42 brands.
Since then, at least 13 additional recalls have been announced that are linked to the CRF recall. Most of them are frozen vegetable products or
contain ingredients that were part of the CRF Frozen Foods recall. The
products were sold throughout the U.S. and in Canada.
The
illnesses actually date to September 2013, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. All eight individuals have been
hospitalized, and there have been two deaths, although listeria is not
the cause of death in those cases.
Separately, on May 3, SunOpta announced a voluntary recall of
sunflower kernel products produced in February at its Crookston,
Minnesota, facility. Since then, 17 voluntary recalls have been
announced by companies that use sunflower kernels supplied by SunOpta in
their products, which have been distributed throughout the U.S. These include salads and trail mixes.
No illnesses have been reported linked to the potentially contaminated sunflower kernels.
"Sometimes, it takes time to identify
where all the implicated products have gone," said Michael Doyle,
director of food safety at the University of Georgia.
Symptoms
of listeriosis infection include fever, muscle aches and
gastrointestinal illness, such as diarrhea. It can also lead to
meningitis. Pregnant women, newborns, older adults and anyone with a
weakened immune system is most at risk for infection. Cervical
infections caused by listeriosis in pregnant women may result in
stillbirth or spontaneous abortion during the second or third
trimesters.
The CDC estimates that 1,600 people a year come down with a listeria illness, and 260 cases are fatal.
Dr.
Robert Tauxe, director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne
and Environmental Diseases, says there is probably one more case for
every case they know of. He also notes that listeria can be particularly
challenging for food manufacturers to eliminate because it can hide in
places like drains or pipes for years.
But
the presence of listeria in products is going down, according to Doyle.
And "not all strains of listeria are equally harmful to people," he
said.
He is more concerned about
the frozen vegetable recalls because they were prompted by an outbreak,
so it's known that the strain is making people sick.
Though
the sunflower seeds and products that contain them are not associated
with an outbreak, if that strain were to be making people sick, Doyle
said, he'd be more concerned: Unlike vegetables that are heated and
cooked, sunflower seeds usually are not. Cooking and heating can kill
the bacteria and reduce the risk of infection.
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