By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Some vegetable products, including two product lines sold at Trader Joe’s stores in Kentucky, have been recalled due to possible Listeria contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The products originated from a Growers Express production facility in Biddeford, Maine, and the voluntary recall was issued as a precaution, as there have been no reported illnesses at this time, the company stated in the recall notification.
Most of the affected products are labeled with a “Best If Used By” Date of June 26 to June 29, 2019.
No other Growers Express products are impacted or part of this recall.
The products being recalled in Kentucky are 10.5-ounce packages of Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash Spirals with lot number BCN 105106 and UPC Code 623391, and Trader Joe’s Zucchini Spirals with lot number MSC 104106 and UPC Code 634908.
The voluntary recall notice states listeria is an organism that 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 short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
“The safety of our consumers is our first priority,” said Tom Byrne, president of Growers Express. “We self-reported the need for this recall to the FDA and stopped production immediately after being notified of a single positive sample by the Massachusetts Department of Health. We are deep sanitizing the entire facility and our line equipment, as well as conducting continued testing on top of our usual battery of sanitation and quality and safety tests before resuming production.
“ Consumers who purchased any of the products from the affected sell-by dates or with an unreadable date code are urged not to consume them and to throw the products away. Anyone with questions about the products are asked to contact Growers Express at the telephone number on the package.”
