A California packing company has voluntarily issued a nationwide recall for several conventional and organic varieties of stone fruits packed between June 1 and July 12 due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.
Wawona Packing Co. of Cutler, CA, issued a voluntary recall of conventional and organic varieties of yellow peaches and nectarines, white peaches and nectarines, black plums and pluots (a plum/apricot hybrid).
On July 21, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued its own recall of the fruit sold under the Wawona, Sweet 2 Eat or Harvest Sweet brands.
Listeria can cause serious, even fatal infections in children, elderly or those with compromised 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.
The recalled products were shipped directly to retailers and wholesalers in both bags and boxes to be resold.
The recall was initially based on internal company testing. The company stated that it shut down the implicated packing lines, retrofitted equipment, sanitized the facility and retested and states that subsequent daily test results have been negative.
After the Wawona recall was issued, Wegmans, a NY-based supermarket chain with stores in NY, PA, MA, MD, NJ and VA announced that it was recalling several in-store baked desserts sold from June 1-20 since they may contain fresh peaches, nectarines and plums supplied by the CA packing company. These desserts include cakes, pies, tarts and other pastries, labeled with a store-printed scale label identifying the product and UPC. For consumer questions, contact 888-232-9912.
For more information, contact one of our Gacovino Lake attorneys at 1-800-246-HURT (4878).
