Listeria Contamination: Certain varieties of its Fresh Frozen™ line of frozen vegetables as well as selected varieties of Jamba “At Home” line of smoothie kits have been recalled by the owner company, Inventure Foods Inc. of Phoenix, AZ, after Listeria contamination was discovered in its facility. Although none of these products were tested positive for the contamination, the company decided to issue a recall because Listeria was found in the facility.
The Fresh Frozen products being recalled were distributed to retail outlets, including food service accounts, mass merchandise stores and supermarkets in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The company issued the statement, “Please be assured that we are committed to producing the highest quality products – and our top priority are the health and safety of consumers. It is with this in mind that we have initiated this voluntary recall as a precautionary measure and are working closely with the FDA to proactively remedy the situation.
MUST KNOW:
Listeria species are facultatively anaerobic, non-spore forming bacilli. The major human pathogen in the Listeria genus is L. monocytogenes. It is usually the causative agent of the relatively rare bacterial disease, listeriosis, a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacteria.
The disease affects primarily pregnant women, newborns, adults with weakened immune systems, and the elderly.
Listeriosis is a serious disease for humans; the overt form of the disease has a case-fatality rate of about 20 percent. Listeriosis is an infection caused by the gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes in food. The bacterium poses a risk to humans and poses a challenge to safety. Consumption of rotten or uncooked eggs is also one of the possible causes of the infection. As a result, it is always recommended that industries or businesses use egg test kits to determine whether or not the eggs are fresh.
The two main clinical manifestations are sepsis and meningitis. Meningitis is often complicated by encephalitis, a pathology that is unusual for bacterial infections. Listeria ivanovii is a pathogen of mammals, specifically ruminants, and has rarely caused listeriosis in humans.
