Whole Foods Recalls Dozens Of Products Containing Potentially Listeria-Ridden Fruit

Whole Foods has joined Wegmans in recalling items that they sell in their stores that were made from fruit that’s part of a massive recall due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. Items like fruit tarts and mango-peach salsa using the affected fruit were sold in Whole Foods stores between June 1 and July 21, 2014.

The grocery chain says that customers who have items that are part of the recall should throw them out, then bring their receipts back to the store for a refund. There’s a wide range of items recalled: if you’ve bought anything from Whole Foods in recent months with any fruit in it, you should probably check the list.

Even if you no longer have the receipt, it’s still unwise to keep or eat the products. Listeriosis is at best an unpleasant disease, and at worst can kill you, or cause miscarriage or stillbirth for pregnant women.

We heard from a reader who believes that she and other family members became ill from eating contaminated fruit. She knows that she purchased some, because the store where she purchased fruit, Raley’s, sent an e-mail out to customers with a warning and pictures of the affected products’ stickers. Unfortunately, her family had already eaten the fruit by then.

“People are getting sick – just not sick enough to seek medical help,” she wrote to Consumerist. “I ate two of the affected peaches and about 48 hours later became ill with strong head pain, stomach pain and diarrhea. Fortunately it lasted just under 24 hours.”

The last thing that you want to do when you have a headache and gastrointestinal distress is get in the car and drive to the doctor, and that’s the problem. In order to confirm that you have a case of foodborne illness, local and federal governments need some of your poop. No, really, they need samples from your body to prove which strain of which pathogen has made you sick, which then is traced back to something that you ate. Most people don’t run to the hospital or see their doctor for a one-day stomach bug, which is why we keep hearing so far that there are no illnesses from this outbreak.

This only proves that no good can come from being all healthy and eating fresh fruit.

Whole Foods Market Recalls Made-in-Store Items Containing Recalled Fruit [Food Safety News]

Company Statement [Wawona Packing Company]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist