By Ellen Jean Hirst, Tribune reporter
July 24, 2014
California company has voluntarily recalled its peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots after it found that they might have been contaminated by listeria, sending retailers scurrying to get the fruit off the shelves and affecting consumers across the country, including in Illinois.
The Cutler, Calif.-based Wawona Packing Co., which counts Costco, Trader Joe’s, Kroger and Wal-Mart as customers, recalled several brands, the Food and Drug Administration said. Pictures of recalled brands can be viewed on the company’s website, wawonapacking.com.
The potentially contaminated fruits were packaged from June 1 to July 12, and there have been no reported illnesses from the produce.
Dr. Rahul Khare, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said listeria is a bacterial infection that especially affects the elderly and young children. He said pregnant women should also be especially cautious with the recall, as listeria increases the risk of miscarriage.