News and Stories

Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc., of Monterey, CA, is voluntarily recalling all packaged salads processed at its Springfield, Ohio producition facility due to a possible link to a multistate Listeriosis outbreak. This recall is being initiated due to an active investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where epidemiologic and laboratory evidence indicates that packaged salads produced at Dole’s Springfield, Ohio facility are the likely source of an ongoing outbreak.

The recalled products include all Dole-branded and private label packaged salads processed at the Springfield location and can be identified with a product code on the upper right hand corner of the bag beginning with the letter “A”. No additional Dole facilities are affected and no production codes beginning with the letters “B” or “N” are inclued in this recall. The products where distributed to Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec, Canada.

What We Know:

• The first identified illness was on July 5, 2015
• Official investigation began in September 2015
• Since then, 12 people with highly genetically-related Listeria strains have been hospitalized
• 6 states are reporting illnesses: Indiana (1), Massachusetts (1), Michigan (4), New Jersey (1), New York (4), and Pennsylvania (1).
• There has been one death associated with this outbreak (MI)
• A routine product sample of a Dole packaged salad in January taken by the Ohio Department of Agriculture resulted positive for a Listeria isolate that was highly genetically related to isolates from ill persons
• On January 21, 2016, Dole stopped all production at their Springfield, Ohio processing facility

No Markon products are included in this voluntary recall nor did Markon purchase any of the implicated items from Dole Fresh Vegetables. Please remember to physically check your inventory to ensure none of the affected products are in your warehouse.

Attached for your review is Dole Fresh Vegetables’ press release with sample images of the product coding. For more in-depth information about Listeria monocytogenes, including the latest developments of the ongoing investigation, please refer to the CDC Website: http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/bagged-salads-01-16/index.html.

Consumers with questions may contact the Dole Food Company Consumer Response Center at 800-356-3111, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (EST).

Markon will continue to update members should more information become available.

Angie Ramirez

Food Safety Supervisor

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