Tacos, Dole, Fresh Express and Walmart store brand salads in latest listeria recalls
The next run of recalls rippling from the finding of listeria at a California food plant includes bagged salads and chicken street taco kits sold at some of the nation’s largest grocery retailers, including the Albertsons chains, Costco and Walmart.
Walmart’s Marketside brand of bagged salads makes the most appearances in this run of recalls related to a listeria outbreak at Modesto’s Rizo-López Foods that the CDC credits with killing two people and hospitalizing 23 over nine years.
What’s recalled from where?
▪ Walmart: Marketside Bacon Ranch Crunch Chopped Salad kits sold at stores in Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming with a best by date on or before Feb. 21, 2024.
Marketside Bacon Ranch Crunch Chopped Salad Kits sold at stores in California and Nevada with a best by date of Jan. 20 through Feb. 19.
Marketside Bacon Ranch Crunch Kit sold at stores at California, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming with best by dates from Feb. 3 through Feb. 19.
Marketside Bacon Ranch Crunch Chopped Salad Kit, lot codes from B020 to B036 with best by dates from Feb. 5 to Feb. 21.
Marketside Southwest Chopped Kit sold at stores California, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming with best by dates from Dec. 27 to Jan. 14.
Costco: The Southwest Wrap from all stores between Oct. 27, 2023, and Feb. 6, 2024; Chicken Street Taco Kits with best by dates from Jan. 25 to Feb. 6; Maverick Foods Chipotle Chicken and Rice Bowl at Tennessee stores with best by dates from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8; and The Perfect Bite’s Mexican Style Street Corn Bite, lot No. 223231, best by Feb. 21, 2025, sold in stores in California and Hawaii.
Dole: Chopped Kit Avocado Ranch, lot codes W019 to W036 and N019 to N036 best by Feb. 3 through Feb. 20; Chop Kit Avocado Ranch Chop Kit Ranch A L’Avocat lot codes W022 to W036, best by Feb 6 through Feb. 20; Premium Kit Southwest Salad, lot codes W022 through W036 and N022 through N036, best by Feb. 4 through Feb. 18; Cajun Ranch Chopped Kit, lot codes W029 through W036, best by Feb. 11 through Feb. 18 and N022 through N036, best by Feb. 4 through Feb. 18; Premium Kit Endless Summer, lot codes W022 through W036, best by Feb. 4 through Feb. 18, and N023 through N036, best by Feb. 5 through Feb. 19; and Supreme Kit Southwest Salad, lot codes W020 through W036, best by dates from Feb. 3 through Feb. 18.
Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Tom Thumb, Eagle, Carrs-Safeway, Pavilions, Randalls, Shaw’s, Star Market, Lucky: Chicken Mini Street Taco Meal Kit, Chicken Asada Street Taco Meal, ReadyMeals Chicken Street Tacos, ReadyMeals Chicken Street Tacos Meal, ReadyMeals Asada Street Taco Meal with a best by date before Feb. 10 from stores in California, Texas, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.
▪ Save Mart: Chicken Street Taco Kits at Save Mart, Lucky and Lucky California delis in California and Nevada.
▪ Stater Bros. Markets: Chicken Street Taco Kits with sell by dates on or before Feb. 10.
▪ Fresh & Ready Foods: Fresh & Ready Ham Torta Sandwich and Chicken Torta Sandwich; Sprig & Sprout Ham Torta Sandwich on Telera Roll; and Jack & Olive Ham Torta Sandwich on Telera Roll sold in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.
▪ Sprouts Farmers Market: Chicken Street Taco Meal Kit sold in stores in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee with a best by date from Nov. 29 through March 4.
▪ BrightFarms: Southwest Chipotle Crunch Kit with a best by date from Dec. 31 through Feb. 22.
▪ President’s Choice: Southwest Salad Kit, lot codes W034 through W036, best by Feb. 17 through Feb. 18, and B018 through B024, best by Feb. 3 through Feb. 9.
Why is Rizo-López Foods seen as the source of the problem?
Of the 26 people sickened in the outbreak since 2014, two have died and 22 of the other 24 have been interviewed about what they ate before becoming ill. Queso fresco, cotija and cheeses in that family were eaten by 16 people, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Three people remembered eating Don Francisco brand queso fresco or cotija.
“(Whole genome sequencing) showed that bacteria from sick people’s samples from 2014 to present are closely related genetically,” the CDC said. “This suggests that people in this outbreak got sick from the same food.”
In January, Hawaii’s health department found listeria in a sample of aged cotija cheese from Rizo-López Foods. That prompted a recall of 344 cases of that cheese and brought the FDA to Rizo’s Modesto facility.
When the FDA inspected there, the CDC said, testing turned up listeria “on a container where cheeses are kept before they are packaged.” Then Rizo made a a major recall of dairy products.
READ MORE: Listeria outbreak recall: Cheese, yogurt, sour cream from Whole Foods, 12 other brands
Rizo informed customers who used cheeses and cremas from them in various products, and that brought the ripple recalls late last week.
READ MORE: Recalls from listeria outbreak now hit Costco, Trader Joe’s, H-E-B and Albertsons
Rizo has “temporarily stopped producing and distributing these products while their investigation is ongoing,” the CDC said.
