Growers Express recalls vegetable products over listeria scare

US-based fresh fruit and vegetable company Growers Express has issued a voluntary recall of select vegetable products due to possible listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly and others with weakened immune systems.

Listeria organism can result in short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea in healthy individuals, and cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

The products being recalled include packaged varieties of butternut squash, cauliflower, zucchini and a butternut squash-based veggie bowl, which are sold under the brand names Green Giant Fresh, Growers Express, Signature Farms and Trader Joe’s.

The products, which originated from a Growers Express production facility in Biddeford, Maine, have been distributed to several states in the US.

The company said that most of the affected products are labelled with a ‘Best If Used By’ date of 26 June to 29 June of this year.

However, it said that no other Growers Express products are part of the recall and it does not include any canned or frozen vegetables under the Green Giant brand.

The company has urged consumers who purchased vegetable goods with the affected sell-by dates or with an unreadable date code to discard the products.

Growers Express, located in Salinas, California, stated that retail customers have been notified to remove any remaining products from shelves and inventory. There have been no reported illnesses so far.

Growers Express president Tom Byrne said: “The safety of our consumers is our first priority. We self-reported the need for this recall to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and stopped production immediately after being notified of a single positive sample by the Massachusetts Department of Health.

“We are deep sanitising the entire facility and our line equipment, as well as conducting continued testing on top of our usual battery of sanitation and quality and safety tests before resuming production.”

Growers Express is the primary licensed partner of Green Giant Fresh, the exclusive fresh produce arm of the Green Giant brand.