All but two of the recalled products — including all of the store brands — are manufactured by TreeHouse Foods Inc. of Oak Brook, IL. The company supplies retailers and food service operations across North America. In February it completed acquisition of ConAgra Private Brands, according to its website.
SunOpta Inc., a Canadian company with its U.S. headquarters in Edina, MN, recalled the other two products: Dakota’s Best Biggy’z brand roasted and salted kernels; and Planters brand sunflower kernels. Packaging codes and “Best By” dates, which are all in 2017, are included in the recall notice here.
The TreeHouse recall notice says one of the company’s suppliers alerted it to the Listeria monocytogenes risk. Both TreeHouse and SunOpta are working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the recalls and investigation into the root cause of the potentially deadly contamination.
“We have isolated the production window to a short timeframe and are working with the FDA and customers to control and dispose of affected product,” according to the SunOpta recall notice. “We are aware of one customer complaint that did not involve an illness, and we are not aware of any consumer issues due to consumption of this product.”
Recalled brands of sunflower seeds, other packaged nuts, trail mixes and various granola-type bars manufacturer by TreeHouse Foods Inc. include:
- Amport
- Best Choice
- Eating Right (Lucerne)
- Family Gourmet
- Food Club
- FoodHold
- Gold Emblem
- Great Value
- HyVee
- K&G
- Meijer
- Naturally Select
- Natures Harvest
- Nice
- Our Family
- PCC
- Publix
- Roundy
- ShurFine
- Signature Kitchen
- Smart Sense
- Southern Grove
- Spartan
- Super Value
- Tops
- Western Family
Consumers are urged to check their homes for the recalled products. The recalled products should not be consumed. The recall notices have details on receiving refunds for the recalled products.
Anyone who has eaten any of the recalled products and then developed symptoms of Listeria monocytogenes infection should see a doctor.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost everyone who is diagnosed with listeriosis has “invasive” infection, in which the bacteria spread beyond the gastrointestinal tract.
The symptoms of invasive listeriosis infections vary from person to person:
Pregnant women typically experience fever and other non-specific symptoms, such as fatigue and aches. For people other than pregnant women, symptoms can include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions in addition to fever and muscle aches.
