Dole, Fresh Express Recall Salad Mixes Sold Across U.S., Including Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Produce distributors Dole and Fresh Express are separately recalling several brands of bag salads due to possible listeria contamination.

Dole is recalling "all Dole-branded and private label packaged salads" sold in 21 states that were processed at a facility in North Carolina and one in Arizona due to possible contamination. The facilities are temporarily shutting down for deep cleaning.

The products involved have either the letter "N" or "Y" on the package's upper right-hand corner, and have "Best if Used By" dates between Nov. 30, 2021 and Jan. 8, 2022. Anyone with these salads is urged to throw them out immediately. Call 800-356-3111 for more information on this recall.

Fresh Express is also recalling 10 brands of salad mixes sold in 19 states, including Minnesota, after listeria was found in a sample test of one of the products.

The meal-kit provider's recall involves Fresh Express and private-label salad products produced at its plant in Streamwood, Illinois, Fresh Express announced Monday.

The potentially tainted products were sold by retailers in 19 states in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. The U.S. states include: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

The recall includes all use-by dates of fresh salad items with product codes Z324 through Z350. Product codes can be found on the front of packages below the use-by date. See more information here.

The recall was initiated after Michigan agriculture officials found listeria in a package of Fresh Express 9-ounce Sweet Hearts salad mix produced at the Streamwood facility, Fresh Express stated. The tainted item had a use-by date of Dec. 8, 2021.

The CDC has reported 10 illnesses associated with the strain of listeria monocytogenes detected in the random sample starting in 2016 to the present, the company noted. Fresh Express stopped production at the Streamwood facility and a sanitation review is underway, it said.

People who purchased the recalled products should not consume them and instead throw them out. To get a refund or more information, call 1-800-242-5472 between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. central time. Refunds are also available at the place of purchase.

Listeria can cause serious and, at times, fatal infections in the young, elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Symptoms in healthy individuals include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, and miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. An estimated 1,600 Americans get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.