Fresh Express recalls romaine

08/27/2012 9:40:00 AM
Andy Nelson

Fresh Express Inc. is recalling expired romaine that could be contaminated with listeria.

Salinas, Calif.-based Fresh Express, a division of Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brand International Inc., announced a voluntary recall of limited quantities of its 10-ounce Hearts of Romaine salad Aug. 26, according to a company news release.

The recalled product has a use-by date of Aug. 23 and a product code beginning with “G222.”

A random U.S. Food and Drug Administration test of Hearts of Romaine bags turned up one positive result for listeria.

No illnesses had been reported as of Aug. 26.

The recalled product may have been distributed to up to 19 Southern, Midwestern and Eastern states.

Comments (11) Leave a comment 

Too bad they couldn't sell the contaminated stuff before it expired!

We tell people to eat more produce but then all these recalls happen. People are going to eat less produce unless we figure out a rapid detection for pathogens and hold product until it is tested. These recalls are getting out of hand.

Not a good week for the state run Leafy Greens GAP Program. Dole and now Fresh Express, may be time to look at what is going on with the auditors. What exactly are they auditing anyway, its not working? Time for GFSI?

Two years? How about the past 2-3 weeks? Dole had a recall earlier last week and now Fresh Express. This on top of cantaloup recalls from Jensen Farms, Holly, Colo.; Burch Farms, Faison, N.C.; and Chamberlain Farms, Owensville, Ind.

may be time we look into the trucking industry and SOP for refrigeration and cross contamination of products.

GFSI is just another more expensive audit and does not do anything for daily food safety practices or a fast traceback in case of an event as we have now almost daily not only in produce. It is well known in the food and feed industry that ScoringAg is the only provider for complete prevention recordkeeping, free unique traceback codes to every single spot that a product comes from or passes through the supply chain up to the consumer. When the retailer and consumer can see with a mouse click what product he bought and where it is coming from, there is no need to recall everything and hurt a whole industry over and over again. Contact our team at info@scoringag.com for more information about Food Safety Solutions including Food Safety Equipment.

Why does everyone always want to blame the auditor? The auditors are looking at what the LGMA wrote up in their metrics and the checklist that the LGMA committee decided were the most important factors for leafy green safety. You can read exactly what those items are on the LGMA webpage. http://www.caleafygreens.ca.gov/

The auditor's job is to see if the handlers are following those items. The auditor does absolutely no testing for pathogens on the product. If the handler has an SOP for testing of pathogens on the product then the auditor must verify that the procedures are being followed. Testing for pathogens is NOT a requirement in the metrics.

Every consumer should consider that their food has been potentially contaminated. WASH your fresh produce before using it. If you grow your own fruits and vegetables, don't you wash it when you bring it into your house?

The LGMA looks only at the growing and field packing of the product. They do NOT look at anything after it enters a salad house where the product is washed, chopped up and then bagged prior to be distributed to the grocery stores.

GFSI won't necessarily look at that either.

It is really interesting to learn how to wash e-coli, listeria or salmonella with all the different strains off your lettuce or out of your melon! To blame the consumer of having contaminated food in the kitchen is the new blame game by the industry!