UPDATED: Gills, retailers expand recall; listeria found at plant

07/26/2012 10:12:00 AM
Coral Beach

(UPDATED COVERAGE, Aug. 1, 9:50 a.m.) One week into a 6,000-pound recall of chopped onions and celery, Gills Onions LLC expanded it in late July to include whole peeled onions and additional chopped onions and celery after tests at the company’s Oxnard, Calif., facility showed listeria present.

The processing plant has been closed down since July 17, with investigators looking for the cause of the listeria found in a random sample taken at retail by the Food and Drug Administration. That sample triggered the July 18 recall.

The plant will remain closed until the issue is resolved said Amy Philpott, Gills spokeswoman. Gills officials were not immediately available to provide information about the total volume of the expanded recall.

No illnesses have been linked to the original or expanded recall. None of the products in the expanded recall have tested positive for listeria, according to the FDA recall notice.

Retailers recall fresh products made with Gills Onions

Retailers began recalling fresh products made with Gills onions on July 27. No illnesses had been reported related to these additional products.

As of the July 31, the following retailers had issued these recalls:

• Simmering Soup Inc., Atlanta, recalled Trader Joe’s brand salsas and balela;
• Whole Foods Markets in Florida recalled about 35 fresh food products;
• Cool Creations LLC, North Kansas City, Mo., recalled about 20 fresh food products;
• Wegmans Food Markets Inc. recalled six fresh food products;
• GH Foods CA LLC recalled almost 90 fresh food products under a variety of store and speciality brands, including Delish! Albertsons generic label, Garden highway, Marketside, Nartural Directions, Pacific Coast, Raley’s Safeway Farms, Safeway Cafe, Sprouts and Trader Joe’s;
• Huxtable's Kitchen, recalled Trader Joe's brand roasted butternut squash, red quinoa and wheatberry salad;
• Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC recalled Costa Fruit & Produce brand Calico Bean Salad from salad bars;
• Spartan Stores, Grand Rapids, Mich., recalled Spartan Fresh Selections three bean salad and 10-ounce broccoli stir fry products;and 
• Publix Super Markets recalled custom sub sandwiches that contain onions;
• Ken’s Foods Inc. recalled cole slaw sauce, baked bean sauce and three brands of tartar sauce; and
• Garden Fresh Foods Inc. recalled ready-to-eat salads, slaw, salsa, bean and dip products.

Comments (3) Leave a comment 

It sure seems that processed foods and organicly grown food are respopnsible for 90 percent of the food safety issues that are happening lately. This makes sense as both of those catergories have grown in the last 5 years. I think it would be a good idea to give them a closer look, when they are having an audit.
Perhaps they need a bi-monthly audit?

Audits are worthless as we see again, even if the are bi-monthly. What is happen in the time between? Read on their website they do everything for food safety!?!. If this is true, why do they have contaminated food on the market? Why does a company with responsibility to their buyers and the consumers put out contaminated food at all, waiting if somebody get sick, dies or again as in this case an inspector in a retail store finds contaminated food? What about test and hold? Where is the traceup from the first day on to get everything off the market in hours?

If you are going to go through the trouble of preparing a meal, why not simply cut your own fresh onions? It is really really really easy to slice and dice fruits and vegetables. It's so absurd to pay double/triple/quadruple the value of the product just to get it pre-cut. Lazy people are lazy.