The AP (8/12) reported Ready Pac Foods has announced a voluntary recall for sliced apples distributed to grocery and fast food chains, including McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants, in 36 states because of “possible listeria contamination.” Ready Pac said that although “no illnesses have been reported,” its Missa Bay unit found listeria “on equipment used to produce apple products.”
Bloomberg News (8/10, Edney) noted that Irwindale, California-based Ready Pac said the recall involves “293,488 cases and 296,224 individual packs of fruit, vegetable and sandwich products containing the apples,” which were also sold to Wegmans Food Markets Inc., as well as “caramel and peanut butter dippers at Wawa Inc. convenience stores.”
The Food Poison Journal (8/10, Marler) added that Ready Pac said the apple products were “shipped to Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin,” West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
In an updated story, the AP (8/13) says Ready Pac said the recall also includes “apple salad kits with a ‘Safeway Farms’ label” that are stamped with “use-by dates of July 8 through Aug. 20.” Meanwhile, McDonald’s has issued a statement saying that the “apple menu items currently in our restaurants are not affected” by the Ready Pac recall; and “we are closely monitoring the situation and will continue to look to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide further guidance as more is known.”
AAJ News Brief for John Badal for August 13, 2012. From the law firm of Liever, Hyman & Potter, serving Reading, PA, Pottsville, PA and surrounding communities in Berks County and Schuylkill County since 1959 in the areas of personal injury including medical and nursing home malpractice, products liability, auto, truck and motorcycle accidents and work injuries/workers compensation.