May 20, 2003
Voluntary & Precautionary Recall
We are announcing the voluntary recall of Fresh Express Hearts of Romaine salad with a use-by date of May 6, 2003
On May 19th our QA team learned that a routine test of a single sample of Hearts of Romaine salad conducted on April 30th by an independent party indicated the presence of Listeria monocytogenes.
Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which 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 only 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. Consequently we are recalling this lot from the market. Other lot numbers are not involved.
No illnesses were reported and to date no illnesses have been associated with this product or any other Fresh Express products.
With a use-by date of May 6th, the product should have already been pulled from store shelves. Accordingly, due to the perishable nature of salads, we do not anticipate that any of this product is anywhere in the marketplace.
We also do not anticipate that any of the product is still in consumers' refrigerators; salads that are this far beyond their expiration date and have not been eaten by consumers are usually discarded.
We are notifying you as a precautionary measure.
In the highly unlikely event that you do have any of this product remaining on shelf, please immediately remove from store shelves and destroy all product with the above code. Fresh Express must receive documentation of the destruction of the product using the attached form. This form must be faxed to (831) 775-2550 Attn: Scott Wise.
This recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
We only learned on Monday, May 19th of the test result regarding the Hearts of Romaine product.
This data is in conflict with our own internal test results from April
However, once we received this information we acted quickly to send out a precautionary notice to our customers and consumers.
Consumers with any questions may contact Fresh Express at (800) 242-5472