17 E. coli cases lead to salad recalls from Walmart, Target, Aldi, Domino’s, other places
An E. coli outbreak led to a recall covering 22 states and 97,272 pounds of ready-to-eat salad sold at Domino’s Pizza and a list of grocers that includes Walmart, Target, Aldi, Albertsons and Giant Eagle.
The lettuce is the potential E. coli carrier in the salads made by New Jersey company Missa Bay, all of which are listed here.
Missa Bay sold them to food distributors in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Distributors sold them to retailers and they hit the shelves as the store brands of Target, Aldi, Walmart (Marketside), Sam’s Club (Sam’s ABF), Albertsons-Safeway-Vons (Signature Farms, Signature Cafe), Giant Eagle (GE) and as side salads by Domino’s Pizza.
The latest use by date on the recalled salads is Nov. 1, so all should be long gone from shelves. But the concern is some salads could still be in freezers or refrigerators. They should be thrown out or returned for a refund.
A Thursday afternoon email from Aldi said, “The two products Aldi sold that were included in this recall, Little Salad Bar Chicken Caesar Salad and Little Salad Bar Santa Fe Style Salad, had been removed from our shelves already and they are past their use-by dates. All of the products currently on our shelves are safe to eat.”
The USDA posted this recall announcement overnight, in Thursday’s wee hours, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wednesday announcement of an investigation of an E. coli outbreak with 17 cases in eight states, at least two of which were Maryland residents who ate Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad. Of the 17 cases, Wisconsin has the most (six), followed by Idaho (three), California and Maryland (two each) and Arizona, Colorado, Montana and Washington (one each).
Also, the USDA said, when the Maryland Department of Health tested an unopened pack of Ready Pac Bistro Chicken Raised Without Antibiotics Caesar Salad, it found E. coli O157:H7 in the lettuce. So, all products from that lot of lettuce got recalled.
“Do not eat or sell Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salads with a “Best By” date of Oct. 31, 2019,” the CDC advised.
Seven people have been hospitalized in this outbreak of the STEC O157:H7 version of E. coli. Bloody diarrhea and vomiting are common symptoms, but this version can also lead to the potentially fatal kidney failure HUS (Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome).
The FDA said Thursday afternoon, “Although the ill people interviewed in Maryland reported eating Ready Pac Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad, at this time, ill people in other states have not reported eating this particular salad. Therefore, exposure to this product alone does not fully explain other cases in the outbreak.”
Questions about this recall can be directed to Mary Toscano, consumer affairs manager for Bonduelle, at 800-800-7822.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 9:49 AM.
