TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX) – A food recall has been issued for some 59,225 pounds of chicken salad.

Ready Pac Foods Inc. issued the recall today on one variety of salad, produced this year between Jan. 17 and Feb. 17. The item is the 7.5-ounce single-serve salad bowl packages of “Ready Pac Foods Puro Picante Blazin Hot” with “use-by” dates of 01/31/17 through 03/04/2017.

The items were shipped to retail locations nationwide, the company said in a news release Wednesday.

The problem was discovered on Feb. 21, when the company found that the cheese ingredient used in the chicken salad was included in an expanded cheese recall due to potential contamination with L. monocytogenes.

The company said in the release Wednesday that there have been no confirmed reports of sickness due to the consumption of the salad products. If affected, however, L. monocytogenes can cause serious illness.

Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Less commonly, persons outside these risk groups are affected.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn.

In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections can occur in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems. Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. Persons in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the health care provider about eating the contaminated food.

For questions about the recall, contact the company's Corporate Affairs Supervisor Mary Toscano at 800-800-7822.

 

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