A Illinois company is recalling smoked salmon because it may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

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Vita Food Products of Chicago is recalling 8,088 individual retail packages of 4 oz. Vita Classic Premium Sliced Smoked Atlantic Nova Salmon.

To date, no confirmed illnesses or complaints have been reported by customers, although the company says it is closely monitoring the situation.

In a news release, Vita Food Products said 7,260 of the smoked salmon packages were sold at Publix stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama; Safeway stores in California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia; Meijer stores in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky; Vons stores in California; Genuardi’s stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Winn Dixie stores in Florida, and the Edgewater Produce store in Chicago on or after July 25.

In addition, 828 individual retail packages of this same product have either possibly been sold or are being offered for sale at various grocery stores in the Buffalo, NY and Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan areas and Northeast Ohio.

The recalled product packages are black in color with the Vita logo centered at the bottom. Each package contains 4-5 slices (total 4 oz.) of smoked salmon; the slices are contained in a vacuum sealed package that is 7¾” wide by 7¼” in height by ¼” in thickness. IMPORTANT: The sell-by date and code of DEC 15 2011 01961B is centered in the window on the front of each package.

Consumers purchased the salmon with this sell-by date and code from a retail store on or after July 25, 2011 should not consume it. The company requests that consumers seal the recalled salmon in aplastic bag or place it in some similar container and return to the retailer. The company is also asking that anyone who purchased the recalled product to call 1-800-989-8482 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Central Time Zone) Monday through Friday.

Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. 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.