Missa Bay recalls salad products over E. coli contamination

The US-based company Missa Bay is recalling nearly 97,272lb of salad products containing meat or poultry because the lettuce ingredient may have been contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7.

According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the salad products have been manufactured between 14 and 16 October. Products that are being recalled by the company bear an establishment number ‘EST. 18502B’ inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Missa Bay said that these products were distributed across the US to Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Missouri.

The company also distributes its products to other states, including, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

The potential contamination was discovered when the Maryland Department of Health collected a sealed packet of ‘Ready Pac Bistro Chicken Raised without Antibiotics Caesar Salad’ and started an investigation into the individual ingredients of the salad. In its investigation, the lettuce tested positive for E. coli O157: H7.

As a result of this, Missa Bay has ordered a recall of all the products from the same lot of lettuce. Customers have been advised not to consume the products and should either throw them away or return them to the sellers.

This has been classified as a Class I recall, indicating a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable chance that consumption of the product would lead to serious, adverse health consequences or death.

E. coli O157: H7 has the potential to cause dehydration, bloody diarrhoea and abdominal cramps. FSIS said that anyone concerned about a reaction should contact a healthcare provider.

Last November, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiated an investigation on the multistate outbreak of E coli O157: H7, likely linked to romaine lettuce.