Dole recalls Kroger Fresh and Marketside bagged salads due to Listeria

Dole Fresh Vegetables has recalled 1,077 cases of bagged salads because of a possible Listeria risk, including Kroger Fresh Selection bagged lettuce products and Walmart's Marketside bagged lettuce products.

According to Dole, the recall was issued after a sample of Marketside Leafy Romaine salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test conducted by the State of North Carolina.

The salads were distributed in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. To date, no illnesses have been reported in association with the recall, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Bagged lettuce products included in this recall all have use-by-date of June 19:

• Kroger Fresh Selections Greener Supreme coded N158 211B 1613 KR04, UPC 11110 91039.
  
• Kroger Fresh Selections Leafy Romaine coded N158 111B KR11, UPC 11110 91046.
  
• Walmart Marketside Leafy Romaine coded N158111B, UPC code 81131 02781.

The Product Code and use-by date are in the upper right-hand corner of the package and the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode. The recalled bagged lettuce is past its use-by date and therefore it's highly unlikely that the products are still available at retail, but Dole is still asking retailers to check their inventories and store shelves to confirm that none are mistakenly present or available for purchase or in warehouse inventories.

In healthy people, Listeria can cause high fever, nausea, and diarrhea, but a Listeria infection can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. In young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, Listeria infections can be fatal.

Consumer Reports food safety experts offer these bagged salad tips:

• Buy packages as far from their use-by date as you can find.
  
• Even if the bag says "prewashed" or "triple-washed," wash the greens yourself. Rinsing won't remove all bacteria but may remove residual soil.
  
• Prevent cross contamination by keeping greens away from raw meat.

For more read our report Bagged salad: How clean? and for additional photos of the other recalled bagged lettuce products click here.

If you have any bagged lettuce with the product codes listed above, discard it. For more information call the Dole Food Company Consumer Response Center at 800-356-3111, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (PDT).

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

—Maggie Shader