Bidart Bros at center of Listeria outbreak linked to caramel apples.

Thirty-one ill people result hospitalized, and seven died with Listeriosis

Bidart Bros. is the source of a Listeria outbreak that has sickened at least 32 people and has links to three deaths. The traceback investigation confirmed the apple supplier, based in Bakersfield, California, is the only one that supplied apples to the Happy Apple Company and Merb’s Candies, said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The companies, along with California Snack Foods, of El Monte, California, have issued voluntary recalls of caramel apples. Listeria isolated from environmental samples FDA laboratory analyses showed that environmental Listeria isolates from the Bidart Bros. facility were indistinguishable from outbreak strains by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE).

The agency said test results confirm two strains at the apple processing facility and were associated with the outbreak. Leonard Bidart, president at Bidart Bros, said the results are devastating to the family but they are cooperating completely with the US Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the California Department of Public Health.

Expanded recall: The Company has recalled all Bidart Bros. Granny Smith and Gala apples still in the marketplace. Bidart Bros. last shipped Granny Smith apples to customers on December 2, 2014. In its latest update (January 10) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 32 people infected with the outbreak strains of Listeria monocytogenes from 11 states.

Thirty-one ill people result hospitalized, and seven died. Listeriosis contributed to at least three of these. Ten illnesses affected pregnant women with one illness resulting in a fetal loss and three meningitis among otherwise healthy children aged 5–15 years. To date, 25 (89%) of the 28 ill people interviewed reported eating commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples before becoming ill. The three ill people, who did not report eating caramel apples did eat whole or sliced green apples not covered in caramel but the source remains unknown, said CDC. Canada investigation

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has identified two cases of listeriosis with the same DNA fingerprints, or PFGE patterns, as seen in the US outbreak.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/caramel-apples-12-14/