Some leafy greens at Publix may put more than a bad taste in your mouth.
Publix Super Markets issued a voluntary recall Thursday for 10-ounce plastic bags of Publix Hearts of Romaine after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration alerted the company that samples of the product contained Listeria monocytogenes, a known pathogen.
Alachua County was listed by a FDA press release as one of the affected areas, and local stores have since removed the bags from their shelves.
Soohyoun Ahn, an assistant professor of food safety with UF’s Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, said Listeria monocytogenes is less common to find in food than the salmonella and Campylobacter viruses but can be more dangerous.
“There’s something scary about Listeria that’s different than other pathogens,” Ahn said.
She said the people who are most at risk are pregnant women, who can have miscarriages and stillbirths as a result of ingesting Listeria.
“If you’re healthy with a strong immune system, the symptoms aren’t that obvious,” Ahn said. “If you’re in a high-risk group, which includes children, the elderly and pregnant women, it can be very dangerous. That’s what’s scary about it.”
While healthy people may not experience drastic side effects, they could suffer from flu-like symptoms such as fever, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Another factor that sets Listeria apart from other foodborne pathogens is its ability to grow in inhospitable environments.
“If you refrigerate most of these pathogens, they will stop growing even though they’re there,” Ahn said. “But in the case of Listeria, it can still grow in refrigerated temperatures.”
Since the contaminated samples were found, Publix has pulled all bags of the company’s Hearts of Romaine items with the UPC code 41415 03886, which can be found on the back right-hand corner of the package.
Dwaine Stevens, a spokesman for Publix, said customer safety is the company’s primary objective.
“We have a very fluid and reliable system in place to assure food is safe for our customers and their families,” Stevens said.
Ahn agreed.
“Publix is one of the grocery store chains that’s very careful about food safety,” she said. “But things like this happen with any chain or brand.”
She said it’s always important to make sure you and your food are clean before eating.
“Wash your hands. Wash the food,” Ahn said. “Just general personal hygiene is the best thing you can do.”
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org.
