Salad Sold in Michigan Tests Positive for Listeria, Triggers Nationwide Recall

This time of year we're usually stuffing our faces with holiday treats, but if you were planning to *try* and have something healthy on the table for Christmas dinner... check your salad!

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Fresh Express Salad Recall

Fresh Express is recalling different varieties of is packaged salad produced at the company’s Streamwood, Illinois facility because the product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

According to the FDA,

To date, this outbreak has been associated with 10 illnesses, 10 hospitalizations and one death. Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 26, 2016, to Oct. 19, 2021.

Not going to lie, that confuses me a bit. I feel like usually a recall will be for products sold recently and between a specific time period... Did perhaps they just make the connection that the different illnesses through the years have been linked?

Here's What We Do Know About the Recalled Salads

The recalled products were sold under the Fresh Express brand name and others including Little Salad Bar, Signature Farms, and Marketside Organic.

The recall was triggered by a discovery in Michigan. According to the FDA,

The recall was necessitated when the Michigan Department of Agriculture received a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test of a single package of Fresh Express 9 oz. Sweet Hearts salad mix with Use-By Date of December 8, 2021, manufactured at the Fresh Express Streamwood facility.

More than 200 types of salad sold across the U.S. and Canada are included in the recall; you can find the full list here.

The recall includes all Use-By Dates of fresh salad items with product codes Z324 through Z350. Product codes are located on the front of the packages below the Use-By Date.

No other Fresh Express products are included in the recall.

If you've got any of the recalled salads in your fridge, toss them out. To get a refund or find out more information, you can call the Fresh Express Consumer Response Center at (800) 242-5472 between the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. You can also get a refund at your point of purchase.

Foods Contaminated with Listeria Monocytogenes Can Cause Listeriosis

Listeriosis can be a serious and sometimes fatal infection in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Although healthy people may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Anyone experiencing these symptoms should contact their health care provider.