Nutrisystem recalls cookie dough bars for Listeria concerns

Nutrisystem Inc. is recalling one flavor of its Nutricrush bars sold at retail stores and online because they contain cookie dough that has been recalled because of possible Listeria contamination.

Only Nutricrush Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bars manufactured by Nobel Foods Inc. for Nutrisystem are implicated in the recall, according to a notice posted today on the Food and Drug Administration’s website.

No “direct to consumer” Nutrisystem products are included in the recall. The recalled bars were sold nationwide online via amazon.com and walmart.com.

One lot of the bars — 455 cases of five-bar boxes — were distributed to ShopRite and Hanford stores in a dozen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Vermont.

“The product can be identified by the UPC 6 32674 85579 4, Enjoy by Aug 22 2017 and Lot Code NF082216A. All code information is found on the back panel of the carton,” according to the recall notice.

“Consumers should not eat the recalled product. Consumers may discard the product or return it to the ShopRite or Hannaford from where it was purchased for a full refund. Twenty-four customers of Amazon.com and Walmart.com have already been identified, instructed to discard the product, and will be issued a refund. No illnesses have been reported.”

Consumers with questions can call Nutrisystem at 866-293-8118.

Anyone who has eaten any of the recalled Nutrisystem bars and developed symptoms of Listeria infection should seek medical attention and tell their doctors of the possible exposure to Listeria monocytogenes.

Symptoms can take up to 70 days to develop after exposure. Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

The Nutrisystem recall notice does not name the cookie dough supplier, but a number of companies are recalling products because they contain cookie dough supplied by Aspen Hills Inc., an Iowa company.

Aspen Hills recalled some of its cookie dough in mid-September after Blue Bell Creameries reported finding Listeria in it. The cookie dough company expanded the recall Sunday to include all of the cookie dough it produced between July 15 and Sept. 30. The cookie dough went to 27 food production companies, but Aspen Hills will not make its customer list public.

For more details on the Aspen Hills cookie dough recall and other product recalls related to it, please see: “Cookie dough recall for Listeria ripples through food chain”

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from Food Recalls – Food Safety News http://ift.tt/2dSxs9j