Pictsweet Is Recalling Over 1,800 Cases of Frozen Asparagus Due to Listeria Concerns
November 15, 2018
If you were planning to serve asparagus with dinner tonight (or as part of your Thanksgiving meal), check the label before you start cooking. The Pictsweet Company is recalling over 1,800 cases of Pictsweet Farms 8 oz. Steam’ables Asparagus Spears because they may have been contaminated with Listeria. The company voluntarily recalled the asparagus after learning from the manufacturer that products suspected of being contaminated with Listeria were accidentally shipped to Pictsweet, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
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Thankfully, there haven’t been any reported illnesses yet, but it can also take up to 70 days for symptoms of listeriosis to show up. Unfortunately, the asparagus included in the recall was shipped to 34 (yes, 34!) different states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Luckily, you only have to check your freezer for one product: The recall only includes Pictsweet Farms 8 oz. Steam’ables Asparagus Spears with the UPC code 0 70560 97799 9, and productions codes beginning with 2138XD. Additionally, all of the recalled asparagus has a “best by” date of August 1, 2020.
Listeria can easily survive freezing temperatures, and the distant “best by” date could lead to consumers storing the contaminated asparagus for a long time, so make sure you check your freezer now and throw out any of the products included in the recall (before you forget). Listeria can cause serious and fatal infections in children, the elderly, and others with weakened immune systems, and cause nasty symptoms in healthy adults, like high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Stay on the safe side, and return or throw out any recalled products you find in your freezer.
This article originally appeared on BHG.com.
