An existing food recall at Walmart locations in 20 states has gotten more severe.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has updated an existing broccoli recall to a Class I risk level due to the confirmed presence of Listeria bacteria in contaminated products (per Newsweek). According to the FDA, Class I recalls bear “a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”
The Class I designation applies to an earlier voluntary recall due to Listeria risks from the broccoli’s manufacturer, Braga Fresh. The FDA urges consumers with any 12-ounce bags of Marketside brand ready-to-eat broccoli florets with a use by date of December 10, 2024 to dispose of the broccoli immediately. The product can also be identified by lot code BFFG327A6.
Although the use by date has long passed, the FDA issued a Class I risk level in case consumers may have frozen the broccoli for future use. The recall affects bags sold at Walmarts in Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Food recalls are part of how the food supply is kept safe. Lessons learned from entries on our list of 13 landmark food recalls and advisories, for example, have helped make mass market food safer today than it would otherwise be.
What an upgrade to a Class I recall means is that the contaminated broccoli poses a greater risk to public health than previously thought. In the case of Listeria, this bacteria can cause fatal illness in people with vulnerable immune systems, including children, senior citizens, and the immunocompromised.
Unfortunately for Walmart, the increasingly serious broccoli recall is not the company’s first tangle with food safety issues in the new year. Earlier in January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned consumers about mislabeled frozen empanadas from Walmart store brand Bettergoods, which contained an undeclared allergen.
By Yahoo.com
