Commissaries pull Fresh Express Packaged Salad

The Defense Commissary Agency is pulling Fresh Express Sweethearts Packaged Salad Mix products from its shelves in cooperation with a Food & Drug Administration investigation of Listeria monocytogenes, according to agency health and safety officials.

DeCA has publicized this internal recall to all its impacted stores, said Lt. Col. Angela Schmillen, director of DeCA’s Public Health and Safety Directorate. Whenever a commissary has recalled or withdrawn products in its inventory, they are immediately removed from store shelves.

The commissary’s internal recall follows an investigation by FDA and health officials from the CDC, state and local jurisdictions into an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections across the following states: Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The impacted products were manufactured at the Fresh Express facility at Streamwood, Illinois. The recalled products have product codes of Z324 through Z350.

Listeria monocytogenes may cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the frail or elderly, and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy adults may only suffer short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Listeria infections may also cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. The illness caused by these bacteria can take up to 70 days to appear. Persons in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the health care provider about eating the contaminated food.

Customers should check their refrigerators and freezers for any of these products and return them to the commissary of purchase for a full refund. No other Fresh Express products are affected by this recall.

For the latest food safety alerts and product recalls affecting military commissaries, visit https://corp.commissaries.com and click on “Food Recall” at the bottom of the front page. For general food safety information, click on “Food Safety.”