Dole recall remains limited to about 850 cases
Dole recall remains limited to about 850 cases
A random sampling of a "Dole" brand "Hearts Delight" lettuce salad bag tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 in mid-September, causing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to issue a health warning and for Dole to recall about 850 cases of the product.
The agency said in its advisory Sept. 16, and Dole spokesperson Bill Goldfield confirmed three days later, that there were no reported illnesses from the suspect bags of lettuce. Mr. Goldfield added that further testing found no contamination source at the grower or processor levels, and no other bags in that lot have returned a positive test for E. coli O157:H7. He said Sept. 19 that extensive testing was still underway, but nothing had turned up by that time.
Mr. Goldenfield said that the code on the bag of lettuce allowed Dole to quickly trace back the product to the facility where it was processed as well as to the fields in which it was grown.
Dole recalled 500 bags of the salad that had been shipped to Canada and another 4,500 that were shipped to customers in the United States. The salad mix was a blend that contained a mixture of hearts of Romaine, Butter and green leaf lettuce. Mr. Goldfield said that CFIA's sampling technique took an extraction from the entire bag, so it did not pinpoint which specific lettuce variety was tainted.
"Our overriding concern is for consumer safety," Dole Fresh Vegetables President Eric Schwartz said in a company press release. "We are working closely with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and several U.S. state health departments."
Produce-industry experts contacted for comment expressed concern over the outbreak and worried that contamination of even just one bag of lettuce could lead to a misperception about the safety of leafy greens. Since last year's spinach crisis, California has instituted extensive food-safety practices in the leafy greens arena that appear to have reduced food contamination exposure. Expert after expert, however, continually repeats that until there is a kill step in the production of fresh produce, it is impossible to guarantee that contamination will never occur.
The recall did spur some politicians to call for increased food-safety measures and to argue that the industry still has not done enough to protect the public.
The agency said in its advisory Sept. 16, and Dole spokesperson Bill Goldfield confirmed three days later, that there were no reported illnesses from the suspect bags of lettuce. Mr. Goldfield added that further testing found no contamination source at the grower or processor levels, and no other bags in that lot have returned a positive test for E. coli O157:H7. He said Sept. 19 that extensive testing was still underway, but nothing had turned up by that time.
Mr. Goldenfield said that the code on the bag of lettuce allowed Dole to quickly trace back the product to the facility where it was processed as well as to the fields in which it was grown.
Dole recalled 500 bags of the salad that had been shipped to Canada and another 4,500 that were shipped to customers in the United States. The salad mix was a blend that contained a mixture of hearts of Romaine, Butter and green leaf lettuce. Mr. Goldfield said that CFIA's sampling technique took an extraction from the entire bag, so it did not pinpoint which specific lettuce variety was tainted.
"Our overriding concern is for consumer safety," Dole Fresh Vegetables President Eric Schwartz said in a company press release. "We are working closely with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and several U.S. state health departments."
Produce-industry experts contacted for comment expressed concern over the outbreak and worried that contamination of even just one bag of lettuce could lead to a misperception about the safety of leafy greens. Since last year's spinach crisis, California has instituted extensive food-safety practices in the leafy greens arena that appear to have reduced food contamination exposure. Expert after expert, however, continually repeats that until there is a kill step in the production of fresh produce, it is impossible to guarantee that contamination will never occur.
The recall did spur some politicians to call for increased food-safety measures and to argue that the industry still has not done enough to protect the public.
