Two corporations have updated and added to public information about frozen vegetables that have been recalled in the U.S. and Canada because of possible Listeria contamination.
The J.R. Simplot Co. shared supply chain information regarding its recall of frozen peas and National Frozen Foods Corp. updated label traceability information on its recall notices for frozen peas in the U.S. and Canada. “Our recall is connected to the National Frozen Foods (NFF) recall and not the CRF (CRF Frozen Foods LLC) recall,” Simplot’s Manager of Government and Public Affairs Ken Dey told Food Safety News on Thursday. “And as of now there haven’t been any illnesses or complaints related to the NFF recall.” Simplot’s links in the food supply chain led to Michigan-based Dutch Treat Foods recalling consumer containers of its Sweet Pea Pasta Salad from retailers and bulk shipments of it from two major foodservice supplier companies, Lipari Foods LLC of Warren, MI, and Sysco of Grand Rapids. Neither Simplot nor Dutch Treat Foods indicated in their recall notices whether the implicated peas had been supplied by NFF or CRF — a distinction normally unimportant to the general public but one that currently has significance. The CRF recall referenced by Dey has been linked to an ongoing, multi-state outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes. The CRF recall has rippled through the supply chain, with more than 500 products now implicated. CRF ceased operations at its Pasco, WA, production plant in late April because of the outbreak. Public health officials found the link between the outbreak and CRF by coincidence when Ohio officials conducting a random sampling of frozen vegetables at retail stores detected the outbreak strain in products from CRF’s Pasco, WA, facility. NFF updates traceability details
Clarifying recall details for consumers in the U.S. and corporate customers in Canada, National Frozen Foods updated label traceability information this week related to its frozen peas. In the U.S., the company provided the Food and Drug Administration with the UPC number for First Street brand green peas, making it easier for consumers to check their homes for the potentially contaminated products. The updated information on the First Street frozen peas involves the 40-ounce packages with best-by dates of June 2, 2017, and Nov. 11, 2017. Consumers should check packages for the UPC number 41512 08201 to determine if they have recalled products in their homes. In Canada, NFF updated information posted with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regarding a notification to corporate trading partners about its frozen pea recall. NFF supplied the S.H. Blackwell Co. Inc. and that company in turn distributed the peas to hotels, restaurants and institutional foodservice operations in British Columbia. The recalled peas were distributed in 12-kg containers marked with one of the following product codes:
- 6B26C1N 69241 SHBEX-00004
- 6B26D1N 69241 SHBEX-00004
- 6B26E1N 69241 SHBEX-00004
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