Food Recall: Dole Announces a Precautionary Recall of Salads at Kroger and Wal-Mart

Last week, Dole Fresh Vegetables announced a voluntary and precautionary recall on a number of pre-made bagged salads. In all the company issued a recall of 1,077 cases of the bagged salads which are packaged under the label of Kroger and Wal-Mart brand lables.

The recall affects salads that were distributed in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. While so far, no illnesses have been reported, the precautionary recall is due to an isolated instance in which a sample of Marketside Leafy Romaine salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes. The result was from a random sample test conducted by the State of North Carolina.

According to the company, the recalled salads are coded:

– N158 211B 1613 KR04 with Use-by date of June 19 and UPC 11110 91039,
– Kroger Fresh Selections Leafy Romaine coded N158 111B KR11 with Use-by date of June 19 and UPC 11110 91046
– Wal Mart Marketside Leafy Romaine coded N158111B with Use-by date of June 19 and UPC code 81131 02781

The Product Code and Use-by date are in the upper right-hand corner of the package; the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode. Dole said that no other Wal Mart Marketside, or Kroger Fresh Selections salads are included in the recall, and that is applies only to the specific Product Codes, UPC codes and June 19, 2012 Use-by date identified.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause foodborne illness in a person who eats a food item contaminated with it. Symptoms of infection may include fever, muscle aches, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. The illness primarily impacts pregnant women and adults with weakened immune systems. Most healthy adults and children rarely become seriously ill.