Amy’s Kitchen and Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. have announced separate recalls of frozen foods that contain spinach which may be contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria. The bacteria contaminates food and the ingestion of such can cause listeriosis, a rare and serious bacterial infection with a mortality rate of 20 percent.
Listeriosis primarily affects adults with weak immune systems, pregnant women, the elderly and newborns. The name Listeria comes from surgeon Joseph Lister, an antiseptic advocate in the late 19th century, and also the namesake of the Listerine antiseptic product.
In all, Amy’s Kitchen of Petaluma, California voluntarily recalled 19 different frozen food varieties with organic spinach. Once the supplier of the produce informed Amy’s Kitchen that their spinach may be contaminated with listeria, the company recalled the products “out of an abundance of caution.” Although listeria is considered rare, it nevertheless has recently been involved in the deaths of four people who ate caramel apples and three more deaths were possibly related to Blue Bell Creameries ice cream.
The products include frozen varieties of tofu scramble, vegetable lasagna, pasta shells, brown rice with vegetables, enchiladas and spinach pizza. The full list of items and their relevant lot numbers can be seen on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website here.
Amy’s Kitchen is a privately-held major U.S. distributor of frozen prepared foods containing organic ingredients. Included in the company’s 250 vegetarian products are 130 that are gluten free. Customers include Whole Foods, Fresh Direct, Safeway, and other supermarket chains.
Amy’s Kitchen is not currently aware of any illnesses associated with its recalled foods. The recall advises people not to eat them and items may be returned for a refund or exchange.
Supermarket chain Wegmans Food Markets also announced its own recall of frozen organic spinach sold at its 85 supermarkets along the East Coast. Affected are 12-ounce packages of Wegmans Organic Food You Feel Good About Just Picked Frozen Spinach and displaying the “best used by” dates of Jan. 26, 2017 and Feb 02, 2017.
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