Last Friday, a major California-based vegetable supplier, Mann Packing, voluntarily recalled products that may have been contaminated with listeria. Products with "Best by" dates from October 11-20 are those affected.
Mann not only distributes bagged salads and other vegetable products under it's own brand name, but also supplies to many major supermarket chains around the country, including Trader Joe's, Walmart, Meijier, Safeway, and Whole Foods.
Mann's products, including Brussels Sprouts, Family Favorites California Stir Fry, Family Favorites Vegetable Stir Fry, Rainbow Salad, Sesame Srircha Nourish Bowls, Cauliflower Florets, Fiesta Salad, Power Slaw, and Stir Fry Medley, to name a few. Basically, it's a lot of the pre-washed, cut, and bagged veggies that you're tempted to buy so that you can save five-ish minutes.
Meijers recalled many Meijer brand packaged produce products in response to the possible health risk, including many broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, pepper, asparagus, and salad products in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Wisconsin.
Safeway in Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, California, Hawaii, and Nevada, recalled vegetable products, as well, primarily vegetable trays, broccoli, and cauliflower florets.
Trader Joe's Kolorabi salad was also on the recall list, as were certain salad bar products in Whole Foods at 10 California Whole Foods locations.
The listeria contamination was discovered via random sampling by the Canadian Food Safety Inspection Agency, and so far, no illnesses have been linked to the products.
However, Listeria causes fever, diarrhea, nausea, and body aches, and is potentially dangerous to pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals, including the elderly, young, and those with a weak immune system. If listeria spreads to the immune system, it can cause headaches, stiff necks, confusion, convulsions, and loss of balance.
If you have one of the products on this list, you should avoid eating them, and either toss them or take them back to the store for a refund. Even though food waste is the worst, when it comes to listeria, eating potentially contaminated food is not worth the risk.