Dole Recalls Italian Salad Mix Due To Possible Listeria Contamination

italian_blendBagged salads are a super convenient way to get more vegetables into your mouth, but if you buy them, it’s time to check your fridge. Listeria monocytogenes is a nasty pathogen that can have serious consequences for vulnerable humans, and was found in salads marketed under the names Dole Italian Blend, Fresh Selections Italian Style Blend, Little Salad Bar Italian Salad, and Marketside Italian Style Salad.

This recall is due to the pathogen showing up in a sample that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency tested. Since the contaminated sample was part of a lot with a “sell by” date of March 12, Dole notes that it’s “highly unlikely” that any bags are left in stores, and they’ve probably already been eaten or are still sitting in customers’ crispers.

If you have affected salad in your home, contact Dole at (800) 356-3111 or bring it back to the retailer where you purchased it.

Here’s where affected bags were distributed:

Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Virginia

New Brunswick
Ontario
Quebec

If you’re wondering what, exactly, makes a salad “Italian,” this blend consists of Romaine lettuce and radicchio (Italian chicory), a leafy red vegetable that looks like red cabbage but is way tastier.

Listeria is one of the scariest foodborne illnesses, which hits the very old, the very young, the immunocompromised, and pregnant women the hardest. It has an incubation period of up to 70 days, and even in healthy people causes unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms, fever, and muscle stiffness.

Dole Fresh Vegetables Announces Precautionary Recall of Limited Number of Salads [Dole]

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