Crunch Pak® sliced apples recalled due to potential for Listeria monocytogenes

State Lab Finds a Positive Sample, no human cases identified yet.

A Washington state company is recalling sliced apples due to the potential for Listeria contamination. The contamination was discovered by testing conducted by Minnesota Health Department. A sample tested was found to be positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

There have been no know Listeria outbreaks associated with sliced apples, however these product had been recalled in the 2012. Perhaps this is why MN Dept. of Health decided to pull this sample…perhaps it was just somebody pulling samples. Was the level of contamination significant? Studies have shown that Listeria can survive on apples and that it has grown on sliced apples when that product was temperature abused.

How risk is evaluated for a given product is rarely constant. This was the case with cantaloupes, where Listeria was probably not on the radar of those conducting a risk analysis, until the Jensen related outbreak in 2011. And so now for companies packing fresh apple slice, they too will need to include Listeria as part of their hazard analysis, and with this, they will need to implement environmental control measures in the processing environment.

The company sold the recalled product to retail customers and because, in some cases, the recalled product was shipped to regional distribution centers, Crunch Pak is taking the extra precautionary measure of issuing this recall nationwide to assure that consumers who may have purchased the product are properly alerted.

Source: Listeria blog http://www.listeriablog.com/listeria-recalls/apple-slices-recalled-due-to-listeria-risk/#.UoogdMRWxWA