The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Food recall of turnip sticks has been expanded to include Compliments brand Baby Cut Turnip Strips to Sawler brand Turnip Sticks.

The initial recall that was posted Feb. 1 reported the Canadian agency had found Listeria monocytogenes in freshcut turnip products from Sawler Gardens Ltd.
Complete distribution details are not available, but it is known the recalled turnip sticks were sent to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and possibly nationwide, according to the recall notice.

To view larger versions of the photos of the recalled turnip sticks, please click on the image.

As of the posting of the expanded recall, there had not been any illnesses in association with the recalled product.

There is concern consumers may have unused portions of it in their homes, with officials urging people to check their refrigerators for the recalled products.

Consumers can identify the additional recalled turnip sticks by looking for the following label information:

  • Sawler Turnip Sticks in 340-gram plastic bags; 18 FE 11 date code; UPC number 6 21063 36600 3.
  • Compliments Baby Cut Turnip Sticks in 340-gram packages; 18 FE 11 date code; UPC number 0 68820 12504 4.

Anyone who has eaten any of the recalled turnip sticks and developed symptoms of Listeria infection should seek medical attention and tell their doctors about possible exposure to the pathogen.

It can take as many as 70 days after exposure for symptoms of Listeria infection to develop, so people who have eaten the recalled turnip sticks should monitor themselves for Listeriosis symptoms during the coming weeks.

Symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. In severe cases, the infection can become invasive and spread beyond the gastrointestinal tract.

Older adults, young children and people with weakened immune systems such as cancer patients, people with HIV/AIDS and organ transplant recipients are susceptible to serious, sometimes fatal, infections. In addition, in pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. The pathogen can cross the placenta and infect developing fetuses.

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