Gills Onions, located in Oxnard, CA, expanded a recall July 25 of all products processed at one of its facilities after investigators found Listeria at its plant, the company announced.

The company has been struggling with Listeria reports since May, when it issued a voluntary recall of 2,360 pounds of diced red onions after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found Listeria on products during routine sampling.

No Listeria was found in the plant and the company never found the problem, but it did conduct a thorough sanitation and implemented more testing for the contaminant on food contact substances, said Amy Philpott, spokeswoman for Gills Onions. No illnesses have been linked to these onions.

But on July 18, the company announced another recall as a result of Listeria positive samples, this time from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company recalled a single day’s production of diced and slivered red and yellow onions, and diced celery and onion mix shipped July 2-4 to retailers in Canada and California, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington.

In the latest development, Gills Onions issued an expanded recall July 25 and announced that authorities had found Listeria in the facility that was the focus of the July 18 recall. The facility — one of two in Oxnard —processed products for the retail and specialty produce markets and was shut down July 17. The expanded recall includes diced, slivered and whole peeled onions and diced onion/celery mix with use-by dates on or before Aug. 3, basically everything produced at the plant, Ms. Philpott said.

“Our priority right now is to carry out this recall effectively and efficiently in order to reduce the risk to public health,” Steve Gill, president of the company, said in a July 25 statement.

“Gills had a recall plan in place. They know what to do and acted quickly,” Ms. Philpott told The Produce News. The company has been “incredibly aggressive” in its response, she explained. It put together a food-safety panel of microbiologists with expertise on Listeria control, and another group is looking at ways to redesign the facility to mitigate future risks.

The group that’s looking at ways to redesign the facility is tapping experts from diary and meat industries as well as produce, and the company is “making changes along the way” as it awaits a final report, she said.

Gills Onions said it is keeping the FDA and the California Department of Public Health informed of its recall process to ensure that consumers are properly alerted.

In the meantime, the onion and celery mixes have spurred other companies to announce recalls for soups and salsa products, including Sartori Inspirations LLC, Simmering Soup Inc., and Cool Creations LLC. Whole Foods Market recalled a long list of products prepared in Florida stores, and Wegman Food Market recalled several prepared items containing the onions in three Pennsylvania stores.