Dole-branded salad items recalled due to listeria concern

Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc. has issued a recall for multiple salad items – some of which have been distributed in Minnesota – due to a listeria contamination concern.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the recall includes all Dole-branded and private label packaged salads processed at its Bessemer City, North Carolina, and its Yuma, Arizona, production facilities. Recalled salad items from the Yuma facility were among those distributed in Minnesota.

The FDA reports products subject to the recall are identified by a product lot code beginning with either the letter "N" or "Y" in the upper right-hand corner of the package and will have a "Best if Used By" date between Nov. 30, 2021, and Jan. 8, 2022. Those who find these products in their refrigerators are advised to throw them out.

The FDA states samples of salad products were randomly tested by the states of Georgia and Michigan, and the samples matched a strain of Listeria monocytogenes which FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials believe are responsible for 16 illnesses since 2014.

Listeria is a bacteria that can cause fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea, and more dangerous complications in pregnant women.