Company issues quick romaine lettuce recall
California company Tanimura & Antle Inc. has recalled a batch of romaine lettuce after the Department of Agriculture found lettuce in Wisconsin that was contaminated with salmonella.
Agriculture industry news blog The Packer reports:
The traceback was swift because of the Tanimura & Antle’s use of technology. … The cartons of bulk and wrapped lettuce have the lot code 531380, and the lettuce was harvested June 25 to July 2. The company shipped the romaine to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers.
29 states affected by recall
Portions of the possibly contaminated lot, which was past its shelf life at the time of the recall, were shipped to 29 states as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. Are you ready for the list of states? Here it is:
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Product recalls are always expensive, so Tanimura & Antle might need a small loan to recover from this. Luckily, no illnesses have been reported. The salmonella was found as the result of a random Department of Agriculture test.
Random test finds salmonella?
I don’t know about you, but the fact that a totally random test turned up salmonella poisoning makes me a little nervous. If the Department of Agriculture randomly discovered that the company had to issue a romaine lettuce recall, how much contaminated food is out there?
Then again, if there is a lot of contaminated food out there but no one knows, that must mean it isn’t really hurting anybody, right? If everything is business as usual, I suppose there’s no use worrying. I’m not going to just quit eating vegetables.
About Tanimura & Antle
The company that issued the romaine lettuce recall is one of the largest lettuce growers and distributors in the United States. Tanimura & Antle publicized the lettuce recall on the company web site. In a press release regarding the romaine lettuce recall, the company said it is exercising “an abundance of caution.” CEO Rick Antle said:
“We will continue to review opportunities for improvement. Although the recalled product is well beyond the 14-16 day shelf life, we are voluntarily issuing this recall because we want to ensure that we minimize even the slightest risk to public health.”
The company also stressed that no other produce grown or distributed by Tanimura & Antle is affected by this recall.
