Dole issued a voluntary recall of a "limited number" of salad kits after discovering the potential of Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
The company noted that the salad kits were processed on the same line as a cheese that had been previously recalled by the manufacturer, Rizo-Lopez Foods.
While Listeria predominantly impacts young children, the elderly or those with weakened immune systems, others can suffer short-term effects such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. The infection has also been found to cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. To date, there have been no reported illnesses associated with this voluntary recall.
The recall covers many of Dole's salads, including Chopped Kit Avocado Ranch, Chop Kit Avocado Ranch Chop Kit (Ranch A L'Avocat), Premium Kit Southwest Salad, Cajun Ranch Chopped Kit, Premium Kit Endless Summer, Supreme Kit Southwest Salad (Supreme Kit Salade Du Sud-Ouest), Southwest Salad Kit (Sud-Ouest Kit de Salade) and Chopped Salad Kit Bacon Ranch Crunch. The notice states that no other Dole products are part of these voluntary recalls.
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These recalled salads were distributed in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, along with Canadian provinces Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec.
The recalled items have "best if used by" dates between Feb. 3 and Feb. 21 along with lot codes, UPC numbers and specific product names.
While Dole retailers have been told to check store shelves and warehouse inventories to confirm no recalled salad kits are available for purchase, the company recommends consumers who still have any of these products in their household to discard them immediately.
