Today, I got a recorded message from Costco warning the salsa pack in the tacos I bought yesterday has been recalled for listeria risk.
Listeria Outbreak Causes Costco & Trader Joe’s to Pull Multiple Products
Yesterday, my family bought a pack of ready-made tacos at Costco to eat for dinner. We have purchased this product many times over the years and always enjoyed both the ease and flavor. Well, this morning we received a phone message from my local Washington State Costco (the first time this has happened to us by the way) stating that the salsa in the taco pack we had just bought had been recalled for listeria risk. The Cilantro Lime Crema salsa that is recalled by the FDA is packaged in the Costco taco pack along with a few other products also made by Rizo-López Foods. Trader Joe’s also had recalls today, removing the house-brand Cilantro Salad Dressing, Chicken Enchiladas Verde, Southwest Salad, and Elote Chopped Salad Kit.
The Message from My Washington State Costco
The message says, “This is a Costco food safety alert. Fresh Creative Foods and Rizo-López Foods, along with the FDA, have issued a voluntary recall on the Cilantro Lime Crema sauce contained in the chicken street taco kit purchased from the Costco service deli due to possible listeria contamination. If you have any of this product remaining, do not consume. Please return it to Costco for a full refund. Visit customerservice.costco.com or call 800 774-2678 Monday through Friday with any questions. We are sorry for any inconvenience this recall might have caused.
What Are the Dangers or Signs of Listeria?
The Mayo Clinic says, “Listeria infection is a foodborne bacterial illness that can be very serious for pregnant women, people older than 65, and people with weakened immune systems.” Signs of a listeria infection include fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, and muscle aches but could take 2 to 30 days to develop. The infection can get into your nervous system causing more severe symptoms like severe headaches, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. Listeria infects nearly 1,600 people in the United States every year and around 250 of those die. If you find you have eaten food possibly contaminated with listeria, wait until you show signs of infection like a fever or nausea and immediately call your Dr. Products in the recall were sold in Florida, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Washington. You might be wondering if we actually ate the salsa recalled yesterday evening. Luckily, the answer is no but it was planned for tonight! I guess we got lucky!