October 3, 2005
SALAD RECALL
If your kitchen is anything like mine, salad is almost always on the dinner menu. Thatís why Saturdayís Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning to consumers against eating certain pre-packaged Dole salad products was so, well, umm, unusual? In case you hadn't heard, the FDA is warning us lazy salad-making hounds to avoid three specific Dole prepackaged salads because theyíve been associated with an outbreak of E. coli. (Excuse me, but isn't E. coli usually associated with undercooked burgers at fast food joints like McDonald's and Jack in the Box? Apparently not!) The affected Dole products include three of the companyís most popular prepackaged salads, and are labeled with "best-if-used by" dates, as listed below, and include a production code that begins with "B250."
- Classic Romaine - with a "best-if-used-by (BIUB)" date of September 23, 2005 and a production code beginning with "B250."
- American Blend - with a "best-if-used-by (BIUB)" date of September 23, 2005 and a production code beginning with "B250."
- Greener Selection - with a "best-if-used-by (BIUB)" date of September 22, 2005, and a production code beginning with "B250."
The "best-if-used-by" code date can be found in the upper right hand corner of the front of the bag. The FDA says that while itís unlikely stores still have these products on their shelves, some of us may have them in our refrigerators.
According to the FDA, E. coli infections often causes severe bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps; sometimes the infection causes non-bloody diarrhea or no symptoms. Usually little or no fever is present, and the illness resolves in five to ten days. Although most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, in some persons, particularly children under five and the elderly, the infection can also cause a complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can lead to serious kidney damage and even death.
To date there have been reports of eleven cases of illness attributed to the Dole products. Of these eleven cases, two people have been hospitalized.
Posted by Mikal at October 3, 2005 2:36 PM
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What kills me is that the "best by" date is so far in the past that the salad mix will have either been consumed or thrown out by now.
Way to be proactive, Dole.
This is why I don't eat salads. If I'm going down to a horrific bacterial infections, I'm going down because I ate a big, juicy hamburger. :)
