Salad Recall as Dire Warning Issued

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the recall of several salad kits as precaution over fears they may be carrying Listeria.

Ready Pac Foods has voluntarily recalled four salad kits after Rizo-López Foods warned that certain cheese products are believed to have been contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause serious illness in some people.

Ready Pac was notified of the recall on February 7 and conducted an investigation into its products. According to the FDA, the company found that four of its products could be at risk.

The four Ready Pac products that have been recalled are:

• 10.3 oz "Marketside Southwest Chopped Kit" distributed by Walmart with use-by dates ranging between December 27, 2023, and January 14, 2024. UPC: 681131305129.
• 9.8 oz "Marketside Bacon Ranch Crunch Kit" distributed by Walmart with use-by dates ranging between February 3 and February 19, 2024. UPC: 681131305440.
• 10.5 oz "Ready Pac Bistro Fresh Mex Chopped Kit" distributed by Winco with use-by dates January 18 to February 18, 2024. UPC: 077745256108.
• 24 oz "Ready Pac Bistro Queso Crunch Salad Kit" distributed by Costco with use-by dates ranging between January 13 and February 18, 2024. UPC: 077745256139.

The FDA said that 15,751 of these products were manufactured from December 2023 to February this year. Each has been distributed in a variety of states across the country.

As a result of the recall, Ready Pac has stopped all sales and production of the affected products, and any remaining will be destroyed. The company has urged anyone who has purchased the product to throw it away or return it to the point of purchase for a full refund.

The company has clarified that no other products in its range are affected. There have not been any illnesses related to consuming the recalled kits thus far. When contacted by Newsweek, a spokesperson for the company said it did not have anything to add to the information released by the FDA.

Rizo-López Foods recalled numerous cheese and dairy products this week after it emerged that traces of Listeria had been found.

The company told Newsweek on Wednesday: "As soon as we were aware of this, we made the immediate decision to stop production and voluntarily recall all our products manufactured in our facility.

"We are working hard and diligently to find the root cause of the problem and take corrective actions to prevent it from happening again. The health and well-being of our customers is our top priority. We have always aimed to provide the highest quality products and are committed to doing the right thing to protect the health of our consumers."