Sandwiches recalled for Listeria from Target, Walgreens, others

Fresh, ready-to-eat egg salad and ham salad sandwiches, as well as a seafood stuffing mix, are under recall from several retailers and a vending machine company because federal inspectors found Listeria monocytogenes in the Greencore USA LLC facility where the products were made.

To view labels of all of the products subject to this recall, please click on the image.

Greencore is recalling sandwiches distributed between Sept. 24 and 27 to American Food and Vending, Hannaford Brothers, Target and Turkey Hill locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.

To see more labels for the products subject to this recall, please click on the image.

There is concern that consumers may have unused portions of the recalled products in their homes because some of the sandwiches have use-by dates of Oct. 2. Of even greater concern is the seafood stuffing, which was only distributed to Hannaford locations, but has use-by-dates reaching to Oct. 19.

“The products are being recalled because Listeria monocytogenes was found in environmental sampling conducted by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration),” according to the Greencore recall notice.

“Greencore has not received any reports of confirmed illnesses associated with these recalled sandwiches. As of Sept. 29, all (corporate) customers have been instructed to remove and destroy impacted product.”

Consumers are urged to not eat any of the recalled products. For labeling details that can be used to identify the recalled products, please see chart at bottom.

Although no finished products had been found to be contaminated with Listeria as of the posting of the recall notice, the FDA did find Listeria monocytogenes in the production facility.

Consequently, anyone who has eaten any of the recalled products is urged to monitor themselves for symptoms of Listeria infection for the coming weeks. It can take up to 70 days for symptoms to develop. Anyone who develops symptoms should immediately seek medical attention and tell their doctors about the possible exposure to the bacteria.

Symptoms include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems can develop serious and sometimes deadly infections from exposure to Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

Not the first time
In January 2011 and June 2012, FDA inspectors found Listeria monocytogenes in the Greencore production facility in Byfield, MA. The inspectors found the pathogen on food contact surfaces, as well as on equipment and other surfaces.

After working with the company officials to resolve the cleaning and sanitizing problems that allowed the bacteria to thrive in the facility, the FDA issued a warning letter to Greencore in October 2012.

The FDA ordered Greencore to clean up its operations and institute ongoing programs to prevent pathogen contamination of its food production facility. In April 2013 the FDA finally issued a close-out letter regarding the 2011 and 2012 inspections.

In November 2016, Greencore recalled Fresh to Go brand chicken hummus sandwiches sold to 7-Eleven stores because of possible Listeria contamination, but it was a secondary recall. Sabra Dipping Co. had recalled its red pepper hummus — an ingredient in the Greencore product — for potential contamination.

Customer	Product	Size	UPC	Use-by date
Hannaford	Egg Salad Club Roll	5.1 oz	4126816587	9/28 – 10/2
	Ham Salad Club Roll	5.1 oz	4126816589	9/28 -10/2
	Seafood Stuffing	10 oz	4126820509	10/2 – 10/19
Walgreens	Egg salad on White Bread	6.1 oz	4902272043	9/29 – 10/1
Turkey Hill Fresh Selects	Egg salad on Homestyle Bread	4.7 oz	7350875001	9/29 – 10/1
	Ham salad on Homestyle Bread	4.9 oz	7350875003	9/29 – 10/1
Target	Egg salad on White Bread	5.9	7350875792	9/29 – 10/1
American Food and Vending	Enza Choice Egg Salad on White Bread	4.7	7350875735	10/1
American Food and Vending	Enza Choice Ham Salad on White Bread	4.7	7350875815	10/1

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