Onion Recall Expands

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The still-broken state of the country's systems for preventing food-borne illness prevention are again on display. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported its lack of progress curtailing food-borne illness outbreaks without the help of implementing new rules, more than a dozen products have been affected by the latest recall: onions that could be tainted with listeria.

The recall by Gills Onions began July 18 and was expanded a week later. The recall of onions, as well as celery-onion mixes, affected 12 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington; and in Canada, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. Many more states are affected because the onions were used to make a variety of packages and ready-to-eat foods, and distributed to retail location in additional states.

The recall highlights how oddly divided food regulation is in the U.S., as the Food and Drug Administration has announced recalls for products like soups, salads, ready-to-eat meals and snacks, including some made with meat; while the Department of Agriculture announced three recalls of its own, for prepared meat-based foods that contained the onions.

The recall now includes many brands, foods and crosses many state borders. Here's a look at some of the related recalls:

• Trader Joe's BBQ chicken salad sold in Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California, Southern Nevada and Texas.
• Sausages made by Enslin & Son Packing Company
• Chipotle chicken wraps made by LSG Sky Chefs of Florida
• Various prepared foods, from Asian stir fry to stuffed mushrooms, made by GH Foods CA and distributed to groceries.
• Trader Joe's Salsa and balela made by Simmering Soups
• Wegmans chilled prepared foods sold at three Pennsylvania stores.
• A variety of Whole Foods prepared foods, from baby shrimp salad to turkey spring rolls
• A variety of prepared foods, from bean dip to pineapple fiesta salad, made by Cool Creations, LLC and distributed in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
• Publix custom sub sandwiches from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
• Three-bean salad and broccoli stir fry from Spartan Stores in in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
• Tartar sauces, BBQ bean and Cole's slaw products made by Ken's and also sold under the brand names Golden Corral, Dickey’s, Lee’s and Fatz.
• Various ready-to-eat salads, slaw, salsa, bean and dip products made by Garden-Fresh Foods and sold under a number of brand names
• Cut ‘N Clean, Comfort (Cooking) Greens Kits by San Miguel Produce, sold in retail stores in Arizona, California, Iowa, and Nevada.
• A variety of Busch’s Fresh Food Market products, from Baked Mostaccioli to Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque Meatballs and all food bar soups
• Stop & Shop Calico bean salad

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