New Recall Issued Over Listeria Concerns

The list of recalls due to possible product contamination continues to grow this month with a major grocery store chain recalling several food items over potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

On Sunday, Wegmans Food Markets Inc. issued recalls of select Valencia oranges, lemons, and various products containing fresh lemon because of a possible health risk.

The affected products were sold in Wegmans stores in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia between July 31 and August 7.

 According to the company’s announcement posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website, the lemons and oranges were supplied to Wegmans by Freshouse Produce LLC of Salisbury, North Carolina, which issued a voluntary recall after the company’s internal testing identified Listeria monocytogenes on a piece of equipment in one of its packing facilities. 

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. No illnesses associated with this recall have been reported to Wegmans or its supplier so far.

This recall comes just days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified red onions as the source of a widespread Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 396 people from 34 states.