Dole listeria outbreak expands to 15 cases, 8 states

The listeria outbreak which has been associated with Dole Food’s packaged salad has sickened three more people from CT and Missouri.

Of eight ill people who were asked about packaged salad, all eight reported eating a packaged salad.

Five other states – Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania – have seen people ill with listeria. Three new cases have been reported since Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The most recent listeria infection linked to Dole Salads was diagnosed and confirmed on the 3 of January, current year. Additionally, seven people in Canada have been infected with the same outbreak strain of Listeria, including one person who died; however, it has not been determined if Listeria contributed to the cause of death. At least sixteen people were hospitalized since past year in July because of a listeria infection caused by the consumption of a salad mixed in the Dole facility in Ohio.

The source of the infections remained unknown till this month when listeria was found in salads collected from the OH facility.

Last week, Dole issued a recall on packages salad that could be linked to a deadly listeria outbreak.

The type of salad mixes produced at this facility were packaged in bags and plastic clamshell containers and can be identified by the letter “A” at the beginning of the manufacturing code on the package. More so, products were also recalled in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Dole released a statement saying its other facilities had not been affected.