Michigan Man's Listeria Death Linked to Ohio Plant

A Michigan man died after eating a Listeria-contaminated packaged salad produced at a Springfield, OH, Dole processing plant, which Friday ordered the removal of all salads produced there from store shelves and restaurants, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said.

Twelve people in six states who ate the salads have become ill since July 2015. Four people in both Michigan and New York were sickened after eating the salads, and one person each became ill in Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Those sickened by the salads included a pregnant woman. The Michigan man who died was from Macomb County, WDIV-TV said.

The CDC said it began investigating the illnesses in September 2015, but didn’t link the salads to the Ohio processing facility until this month. On Thursday, Dole told the CDC it had stopped all production at the facility, and that it was recalling all packaged salads produced at the facility that are currently on market shelves and in restaurants.

The CDC is recommending that customers don’t eat, restaurants don’t serve and retailers don’t sell packaged salads produced at the Dole facility in Springfield. Affected brands include Dole, Fresh Selections, Simple Truth, Marketside, The Little Salad Bar and President’s Choice.

To determine if a packaged salad you bought is affected, look for the letter “A” at the beginning of the manufacturing code found on the package.

The CDC said there’s no evidence linking packaged salads produced at Dole’s other U.S. processing facilities to the illness.

» Photo by catsper via Flickr / Creative Commons