There's no better snack than a handful of nuts, but you might want to steer clear of cashews and macadamia nuts for awhile.

Okay, maybe not all cashews and macadamia nuts have to be avoided, but definitely stay away from two specific brands. Simple Truth Dry Roasted Macadamia Nuts and Ava's Organic Cashews have recently been recalled due to a possible listeria contamination. 

The macadamia nuts have been sold in six states including Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Indiana. All stores that were selling the Simply Truth brand have removed them from the shelves because of this scare. Ava's brand cashews are only sold in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut and weren't produced in a large amounts for sale, but they have also been removed from stores. 

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Jessica Kelly

Listeria is no joke.

Listeria is a serious infection that you can usually become infected with after eating a food that is contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk for the disease. The infection affects each group in a different way. Newborns are at risk for severe disease while the elderly and those with weakened immune systems could develop bloodstream or brain infections. 

What are the symptoms? 

Eating foods contaminated with listeria can cause a lot of symptoms. If you're pregnant, you're symptoms are going to be a little different than those who aren't. Pregnant women typically experience a fever or flu-like symptoms, which could be mistaken for another illness. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, listeria has the potential to lead to miscarriages, stillbirths, premature births and life-threatening infections for the newborn. 

Symptoms for people who aren't pregnant are a little less severe. Headaches, stiff necks, fever and muscle aches are just a few of the symptoms. They could also be accompanied by confusion or loss of balance. People typically report symptoms starting 1 to 4 weeks after eating contaminated foods. 

cake, coffee, tea
Kate Steiner

Even though all these symptoms might have you freaking out, you're going to be okay if you ate something you didn't know was contaminated with listeria. Treatment for listeria varies depending on how severe your signs and symptoms are. Mild cases typically don't require any type of treatment and will go away on its own. However, cases that cause more severe infection are treated with antibiotics. 

Has this happened before? 

This is the first time these nuts have been recalled this year. Although, last December, several pistachio products sold in two stores in Texas were recalled because they tested positive for salmonella. The same issue came up in June of 2016 — a Washington company recalled pistachios sold in Washington and Oregon due to salmonella contamination. This salmonella outbreak seems to have happened a lot in the past year with pistachios, according to Food Safety News. 

vegetable, pistachio, nut
Christin Urso

No matter what you're eating, if there is the slightest chance it could have come in contact with listeria (or even salmonella), don't eat it. While listeria is easily treated with antibiotics, it's better to just avoid the infection if at all possible. If either of these brands are what you normally buy, give another brand a shot. You never know, you might find it better than the other one, anyways.