Fresh Express Recalls Romaine Lettuce Potentially Contaminated with Salmonella
Another lettuce recall has been issued after salmonella poisoning was found in a package randomly tested by the FDA. Fresh Express issued a voluntary recall on several different ready-to-eat packages of salad mix. Fresh Express’s parent company is Chiquita Brands International. Fresh Express is based in Salinas, California. The company is basing the recall on an isolated incident and is taking a proactive approach to the situation in light of other similar recalls not pertaining to this particular company.
Unfortunately, the recalled items all had use by dates that have come and gone. The packages all had use by dates of May 13 through May 16th and an “S” in the product code. The packages were distributed to 26 states in the North, West and Midwest. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall on the same products as well. Products involved in the recall include various salad making kits, romaine lettuce, Caesar salad mix and various other mixes with romaine lettuce. 24 various products produced by the company are included in the recall. Although, the packages are probably not available for sale in grocery stores because of the expired date, consumers who have the products in their refrigerators are asked to throw them away.
There have been no reports of any illnesses related to these packages. The recall states the packages have the potential to contain salmonella. Salmonella poisoning is particularly dangerous in those with weakened immune systems, the elderly and young children. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, vomiting and abdominal pain.
I just found out about this recall because I was called based on information collected by my Ralph’s grocery store indicating that I had purchased the product. My daughter actually had severe stomach pain and diarrhea for several days the week of 5/8 through 5/15. It make sense now. How can you even report that “no illnesses have been reported”. People have just started to become aware; unless they went to the ER because their symptoms were so severe. Her symptoms were starting to concern me by the third day and then she seemed to recover. This happened right before her Senior prom. She gets sick easily, even got the H1N1 flu last year. This is so irresponsible of the company to not test every single product before packaging it and contaminating people and potentially killing them. When I called the 800 number given on the recording regarding the recall that I received, the girl that answered the phone had no knowledge about the specifics, just gave a canned answer and could not even answer some of my questions. I left my name and number for someone with some answers to call me back. If this has happened to you, please take the time to call and report it. That is also part of the problem. I certainly would not have thought to call Fresh Express when my daughter was sick unless I knew for sure that it was because of their product. I’m sure if I had called them to say that my daughter is having diarrhea and stomach pains, they would have thought I was crazy for calling them and probably would have said “how do you know it is from our lettuce – there have been no reports of illness.” This is an outrage in the 21st Century for this to be occurring. We will not be purchasing their lettuce again.