A company called Frankly Fresh, Inc. of Carson, CA is recalling its seafood salad line of products because during routine sampling, they found it may contain Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause miscarriage and stillbirth in pregnant women.
In a listeria outbreak in Canada in 1981, 100 people were sickened. Of those, 34 were pregnant women. This resulted in nine stillbirths. 23 of the babies were born infected and there were only two babies who were born healthy.
In healthy people who aren’t pregnant, the organism does not do any lasting harm. It can cause symptoms such as fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, but these symptoms are self-limiting and short term. The majority of people destroy the organism with their immune system before it does anything and are asymptomatic.
In very young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems it can sometimes cause severe and fatal infections, such as sepsis and meningitis.
The Food and Drug Administration are not clear whether Listeria monocytogenes was definitely found on inspection, as they say the salad has the potential to contain it.
No adverse events have been reported by customers who purchased this food. A full list of affected products and their lot numbers can be found on the FDA website here:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm249270.htm
If you have purchased an affected product, please return it to the store you purchased it from for a refund. If you have any questions, you can email Frankly Fresh at we-care@franklyfresh.com or telephone their hotline at 1-800-826-3322 from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific time.
Sources:
FDA and Text Book of Bacteriology - http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Listeria.html