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Salad recall sweeps across 9 US states

Published Jun 24th, 2020 10:52AM EDT
salad recall
Image: Jewel-Osco

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  • Pre-packaged salads are being recalled across multiple states due to an outbreak of a nasty parasite.
  • The salads were sold under multiple brand names including Aldi and Jewel-Osco.
  • The parasite, Cyclospora, and produce symptoms similar to the stomach flu or food poisoning. 

Thus far, 2020 has thrown us some serious curveballs. It’s been a rough six months for just about everyone, and now one of the things that have haunted us for years has decided to make its way to 2020 as well: tainted lettuce.

You’ll certainly remember the lettuce recalls and warnings of 2018 and 2019, and now we have our very own 2020 version to deal with. This time, the CDC is warning that pre-packaged salad mixes may contain Cyclospora, a tiny parasite that produces some seriously uncomfortable symptoms. Multiple pre-packaged salads sold under a variety of brand names have been recalled already, and more may be on the way.

As the CDC notes, recalls are already rolling out, affecting salad mixes sold in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. That’s a pretty wide-ranging recall, and it’s due to the fact that the salads are sold under different store brands. Here’s the CDC’s full rundown:

Do not eat, sell, or serve:

  • Recalled ALDI Little Salad Bar brand Garden Salad sold in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin

  • Recalled Hy-Vee brand 12-ounce bagged Garden Salad sold in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin

  • Recalled Jewel-Osco Signature Farms brand 12-ounce bagged Garden Salad sold in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa

The CDC urges anyone who typically buys pre-packaged salad mixes to scour their fridge and pantry for any of these brands and throw away any remaining salad, even if someone in your family has eaten it and appears to be fine.

Additionally, the CDC says if you can’t confirm where a bagged salad blend came from, and can’t determine if it’s part of this recall or not, you should throw it away anyway just to be on the safe side.

As far as the parasite itself, Cyclospora primarily affects the gut, with a wide range of symptoms that can mimic stomach flu or food poisoning. The most common symptom is diarrhea, but infected individuals can also experience cramping, bloating, nausea, fatigue, weight loss, and even vomiting and a mild fever.

If left untreated, the symptoms can carry on for some time, with the CDC noting that it may be weeks or up to a month or more before the body can fight off the infection on its own. It’s not typically a life-threatening infection, but if the symptoms persist it’s important to get checked out by a doctor as soon as it is feasible.