U.S – Brookshire Grocery Company of Tyler, Texas, has issued a voluntary recall of bulk Yellow Flesh Peaches available in stores due to a potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

Operating since 1928, Brookshire Grocery Company is a regional food chain with more than 180 stores.

The Texas Department of State Health Services carried out random sampling at Brookshire’s distribution center after the potentially affected product was shipped to stores. The samples tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

Brookshire Grocery Company immediately disposed of the affected product at the distribution center, issued a recall notice to its stores, and implemented sanitation procedures at all retail and affected locations.

Yellow Flesh Peaches subject to this voluntary recall were sold at Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods, Spring Market, and FRESH by Brookshire’s retail stores in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

The Yellow Flesh Peaches are a product of Chile and may have a PLU sticker with the words “CHILE” and “TREE RIPE YELLOW PEACH” and the numeral 4044.

The potentially affected product was received from a distributor and shipped to store locations between 4/15/22 and 4/24/22.

Due to the fresh nature of the product, no fresh fruit is expected to be in any household, but consumers who may have frozen or otherwise preserved this item may have it in their possession. To date, the company is yet to receive any reports on illnesses.

“Any consumer who may have purchased bulk Yellow Flesh Peaches from a Brookshire Grocery Company retail store between 4/15/22 and 5/17/22 and still has them in their possession should dispose of the product immediately,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised.

Listeria infections

When a person consumes food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, they are prone to suffer from a serious infection known as Listeriosis.

Food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes may not look or smell spoiled but can still cause serious and sometimes life-threatening infections.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die.

The infection is most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems.

Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Listeria infections in the 1990s were primarily linked to deli meats and hot dogs, says the CDC. Currently, Listeria outbreaks are often linked to dairy products and produce. Investigators have traced recent outbreaks to soft cheeses, celery, sprouts, cantaloupe, and ice cream.

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