A company from Georgia is voluntarily recalling collard greens sold in Kroger supermarkets in Tennessee after the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Consumer and Industry Services Division (CIS) found possible contaminants during a routine investigation.
“Baker Farms of Norman Park, GA is voluntarily recalling a single production run of Kroger 16-ounce bagged Collard Greens, due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination,” according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the FDA said. “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.”
On October 20, CIS announced the discovery.
“During routine surveillance sampling, a CIS Food and Dairy Inspector purchased a food sample from a Kroger store in Nashville, Tenn.,” according to the Department of Agriculture. “Laboratory results revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in a 16-ounce package of Kroger Brand Collard Greens. The vegetables originated from Baker Farms in Norman Park, Ga.”
The state said that it has not received complaints from any residents who have become ill from consuming the product.
CIS said it has completed 7,951 retail food store inspections statewide this year alone, completing “852 tests for pathogens, allergens, and other contaminants on human food samples during that same period.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that about 3,000 Americans die each year from foodborne illnesses.
Among those foodborne illnesses, Listeria infections kill 255 people annually.
Salmonella is the main threat, causing an estimated 378 deaths in the United States annually.
According to Food Safety News, the FDA is averaging about 400 food recalls per year over the past few years. That number does not include voluntary recalls like the one by Baker Farms.
“Recall activity under the FDA’s realm of responsibility has remained constant during the past three years with 418 recalls in 2020, 414 in 2021, and 423 in 2022,” that site reported. “Undeclared allergens were the leading cause of food recalls under the FDA jurisdiction at 43.5 percent of all food recalls. Undeclared allergens have been the leading cause of FDA recalls for the past five years, according to the agency.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
Photo “Kroger Store” by Ambrosia LaFluer. CC BY 2.0.
