Dole Listeria News: Popular Product Contaminated with Listeria Monocytegenes, Poses Danger To Consumers

For some reason, there have been a couple of Listeria outbreaks recently. Just days after news broke out of Listeria-contaminated sandwiches from Starbucks, Dole's salad mixes have also been found to have Listeria monocytegenes, a bacteria that could cause a serious infection that primarily affects pregnant women, older adults, adults with weak immune systems and newborns. The incident left a mother named Kiki Christofield in a coma.

Constance Georgostathis, Christofield’s daughter, bought the Dole salad mix in late January 2016. After several days, her mother ate some of it. As reported by Food Poison Journal, the investigation led to the conclusion that the product her mother consumed was contaminated with Listeria, which was linked to Dole salad products from the company’s main processing plant in Springfield, Ohio.

Several days later on January 26, Kiki Christofield started to feel worse and experienced confusion, head and neck pains, as well as an altered mental state. The next morning, she was taken to the hospital because of pain, was given morphine and discharged soon after.

It was on Jan. 31 when her condition became worse, which prompted the family to bring her back to the hospital again. Later that day, Christofield fell into coma.

Because of the incident, the product from Dole was recalled from stores' shelves by late January. Stores that sold the recalled salad include Walmart, Giant, ALDI, Kroger, Schnucks, Price Chopper, Fred Meyer, ShopRite, Meijer, Stop n Shop, FoodsCo, Food 4 Less, PriceRite and Jay C. According to Food Poisoning Bulletin, cases have also been reported in other states including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Once contaminated by listeria monocytegenes, the infected individual can experience serious health issues which can even be fatal. Symptoms include severe headaches, high fever, nausea, stiffness, diarrhea and abdominal pain. The bacteria can even bring negative effects to pregnant woman that include stillbirths and miscarriages.