Baby Spinach Recalled Over Salmonella Concerns

Defective Product Injury Lawyer

Several products with baby spinach have been recalled due to salmonella fears, reports the Food Safety News.

At the end of January, Whole Foods Market announced the recall of various prepared food items with baby spinach across eight states due to possible salmonella contamination. This move was in connection to a previous recall of mesclun and baby spinach by the Satur Farms in Cutchogue, New York.

On January 23, Satur Farms started its recall after routine sampling done by the New York State Department of Agriculture and the Florida Department of Agriculture. At this time, it’s not known if the farm supplied the affected baby spinach and mesclun to other companies.

The affected products from Whole Foods include wraps, sandwiches, salads, pizza, and prepared bowls. The items were sold in stores in Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, and Connecticut. So far, no illnesses related to the tainted spinach have been reported.

Products in the Whole Foods recall will have their scale label. Customers who bought items with baby spinach from the store’s hot or salad bars are also being asked to discard those products. In Florida and New York, tainted products were sold in plastic clamshell packaging and have the Satur Farms name on them.

Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause a serious and sometimes fatal infection in older or frail people, young children or people who have weakened immune systems. People infected with this bacteria often suffer from fever, stomach pain, vomiting, fever, nausea, and diarrhea. In some area cases, a salmonella infection can lead to the bacteria getting into a person’s bloodstream and producing other illnesses, including arthritis, endocarditis and arterial infections.

There have been several recalls due to possible salmonella contamination in the news lately. The Food and Drug Administration recently issued another warning about the sesame seed-based product tahini from Israel-based company Achdut Ltd. This recall was first announced in November, and illnesses have been reported. Since the products had a long shelf life through 2021, the administration fears people may still have tainted items in their homes.

Meanwhile, General Mills has announced its second recall of flour in the last two years. Gold Medal brand unbleached flour in five-pound bags has been recalled because the company found salmonella in a sample. They are asking people to toss the flour, which has a best-used-by date of April 2020. Back in 2016, General Mills had to issue a 45-ton flour recall because of an E. coli outbreak. In that outbreak, there were 63 confirmed cases of illnesses reported between the end of December 2015 and the early part of September 2016. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finished their investigation into that outbreak in September 2016 but announced at that time that more people were likely to become ill because of the long shelf life of the flour.

Tainted food can cause illness, disease and even death in some cases. If you’ve been affected by a defective or dangerous item, speak to a defective product injury lawyer.

Thank you to our friends and contributors at Richard J. Banta, P.C. for their insight into personal injury claims and food poisoning and recalls.