If You Buy Dole Products, the FDA Has an Urgent New Warning
Dole issued a voluntary recall after discovering a serious potential safety risk.
A produce giant like Dole Fresh Vegetables sells a wide range of products you might pick up at the supermarket during your regular shopping trips. With that in mind, it's worth checking your kitchen right now if you think you might have purchased any of a large number of grocery items subject to a new recall. Read on to find out exactly which Dole items are being recalled and why—along with what to do if you have these items at home.
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Dole is voluntarily recalling packaged salads due to possible listeria contamination.
Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling from the market a long list of Dole-branded and private label packaged salads processed at its Springfield, Ohio and Soledad, California production facilities containing iceberg lettuce, due to possible health risks from listeria contamination, according to a release posted by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This voluntary recall is being issued after Dole tested equipment used in the harvesting of the raw iceberg lettuce used in these products and found it to contain the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes even deadly infections in young children, elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Healthy people may suffer only short-term symptoms like high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Listeria infection can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Fortunately, no illnesses have been reported at this time as a result of the recalled Dole products.
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Check your lot code and best-by date to see if your product is subject to the recall.
There's a long list of products affected by the recall including those sold under the brand names Dole, Marketside, Kroger, Little Salad Bar, HEB, and President's Choice; you can check yours against the list published in the alert on the FDA website.
Products subject to the voluntary recall from Ohio are identified by a product lot code beginning with the letter "W" and a "Best if Used By" date between Dec. 22, 2021 and Jan. 9, 2022.
Products subject to the voluntary recall from California are identified by a product lot code beginning with the letter "B" and a "Best if Used By" date between Dec. 23, 2021 and Jan. 8, 2022.
Look for your product lot code on the upper right corner of the package.
No other Dole products, including fresh fruit and field-packed fresh vegetables, are part of the voluntary recalls, and any products you have at home that are not on the list are safe to eat.
The recalled Dole grocery items were distributed across the U.S. and Canada.
Recalled salad items from the Springfield facility were distributed in the states of Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. They were also distributed across the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec.
Recalled salad items from the Soledad facility were distributed in the states of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Maryland, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. These salads were also distributed in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
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Here's what to do if you have any recalled Dole products at home right now.
Dole Fresh Vegetables is coordinating closely with regulatory officials. Its retailers have been advised to check store shelves and warehouse inventories to confirm that they're no longer selling any of the recalled products, the FDA says.
But if you have already purchased any and have them at home right now, you're advised not to eat them and instead throw them out immediately. If you have any questions, direct them to the Dole Consumer Response Center at 800-356-3111, Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 3 pm PT.
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