Listeria from Pre-sliced Apples a Serious Concern, Says Personal Injury Attorney

recent voluntary recall of pre-sliced apples potentially tainted with listertia has raised the issue of food safety in the news again. The food in question is pre-sliced apples, distributed through grocery and fast food chains in 36 states, including Burger King, McDonald’s, Wawa and Wegman’s stores, and sold packaged with ‘‘Ready Pac’’ and ‘‘Safeway Farms’’ labels.

Ready Pac is one of the top four producers of widely sold, ready-to-eat, pre-packaged produce that includes fruits, vegetables and salads. Food processed by one company routinely is distributed under multiple labels and names for a variety of markets. The recalled products are known as Hannaford Snack Pac Apples & Caramel, McDonald’s Fruit & Walnut Snack and Wegmans Apples, Granola & Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt.

“Food-borne disease can be deadly and debilitating,” said personal injury attorney John Hale. “Unfortunately, produce recalls are an ongoing concern.”

According to New Jersey-based Ready Pac Foods Inc., no instances of listeria have been reported, though listeria was found on some equipment used to produce the apple products. The recall involves almost 300,000 individual packs of fruit, vegetable and sandwich products containing potentially tainted apples.

Listeria is a bacteria known to cause food poisoning. Symptoms of listeria may include fever, headache, stiff neck, muscle aches, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions. Listeria is especially dangerous to pregnant women and may cause miscarriage, premature delivery or life-threatening infection to newborns. In 2011, USDA reported an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes from cantaloupes, which killed 29 people.

To date, no one has reported illness due to the recalled produce. According to The Packer, a produce industry trade paper, Ready Pac recently implemented a new food safety and quality system. The company stated it had “earned an outstanding safety record for over 40 years and has taken immediate precautionary measures to protect public health by issuing this voluntary recall.”

The company states that the recalled snacks are marked with the “use by” dates of July 8 through August 20, and asks retailers and the public to check any snack and apple products to confirm they do not have the recalled packages. If the recalled product is found, consumers are asked to contact Ready Pac at 800-800-7822. Additional information on the recall and states involved can be found at www.readypac.com.