Pasta Salad Recalled Due to Use of Recalled Frozen Vegetables

 Hy-Vee is recalling pasta salad due to the fact that they used recalled frozen vegetables in their salad items.  The frozen vegetables are potentially contaminated with Listeria and are part of the Inventure frozen vegetable recall.

Even though it states that the vegetables are to be cooked on the label, this retail store operation appears to be using the product as a fresh ingredient item.  An interesting question is to what agreement was made, if any, on the purchase of these vegetables for a ready-to-eat application.

Ingredients produced for ready-to-eat applications must be produced in a facility that is controlling to a higher level of safety, including strict sanitation and monitoring and the incorporation of high hygiene standards.


FDA Recall Notice
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm444946.htm
Hy-Vee Recalls Summer Fresh Pasta Salad
Hy-Vee pulls pasta salad from stores due to potential threat of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria contamination

Contact:
Consumer:
1-800-772-4098

Media:
Tara Deering-Hansen, Assistant Vice President
tdeering-hansen@hy-vee.com
515-559-5770

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 28, 2015 – West Des Moines, Iowa – On April 27, 2015, Hy-Vee, Inc. issued a recall for Hy-Vee Summer Fresh Pasta Salad that is sold in its stores' kitchen department cold cases and salad bars. The pasta was recalled after Hy-Vee was notified the frozen vegetables used to make the ready-to-eat pasta were potentially contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The frozen vegetables were produced by Inventure Foods, Jefferson, Georgia.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. 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.

The Summer Fresh Pasta Salad is packaged upon customer request from the kitchen cold case and would have been packaged in 16oz. (1 lb.) or 32oz. (2 lb.) clear plastic containers. A light tan scale-produced label with the product name, weight and price would have been affixed to the container.

The recalled product would have been available in a limited number of stores between April 9, 2015 and April 27, 2015.

Hy-Vee has since pulled the ready-to-eat Summer Fresh Pasta Salad from its distribution channels and the stores in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota to which it was distributed. All stores that received the product have been instructed to dispose of the product.

To date, Hy-Vee has not received any complaints associated with the Summer Fresh Pasta Salad.

Customers who purchased Summer Fresh Pasta Salad from the Hy-Vee kitchen department cold case or salad bar between April 9, 2015 and April 27, 2015, should dispose of the product or return it to the store for a refund.

For questions, please call Hy-Vee Customer Care at 1-800-772-4098.

Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 235 retail stores across eight Midwestern states with sales of $8.7 billion annually. Hy-Vee ranks among the top 25 supermarket chains and the top 50 private companies in the United States. Supermarket News, the authoritative voice of the food industry, has honored the company with a Whole Health Enterprise Award for its leadership in providing services and programs that promote a healthy lifestyle. For more information, visit www.hy-vee.com.