We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Wash your produce before you eat it. With that out of the way, an avocado company located in California is voluntarily recalling avocados that were shipped to six separate states due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.
Another Recall
Henry Avocado Corporation recently voluntarily recalled an unknown amount of avocados. The avocados were grown in California and packed in a facility in California before being distributed to California, Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. [1]
All of the shipments have been recalled after Listeria monocytogenes showed up on a test that was taken during a routine government inspection at the packing facility. Listeria can cause serious, occasionally fatal, infections in younger children along with older people or people with weak immune systems. So far there have been no instances of sickness associated with the recall.
“We are voluntarily recalling our products and taking every action possible to ensure the safety of consumers who eat our avocados,” Phil Henry, the president of Henry Avocado, said in a statement. The company is “fully cooperating with federal and state health officials to facilitate an efficient and complete recall of these avocados,” he added. [2]
Retailers have been alerted of the recall, but consumers can still identify the avocados by the “Bravocado” stickers. Henry Avocado organic products do not carry the “Bravocado” label on the sticker. Organic avocados are labeled “organic” and include “California” on the sticker. Henry avocados imported from Mexico are still safe to consume, the company noted.
Wash Your Food
Avocados have been on the rise in popularity for years now. And, lucky for us, you don’t have to wash them- unlike tomatoes or peaches- because you don’t eat their skin! Just joking, any fruit or vegetable, with or without skin, needs to be washed before eating.
A knife that cuts through the skin and into the flesh could drag any traces of bacteria that is sitting on the skin inside of the fruit, thus contaminating the fruit.
Notes:
- ^“Henry Avocado Recalls Whole Avocados Because Of Possible Health Risk – Henry Avocado.” Henry Avocado, 23 Mar. 2019, www.henryavocado.com/2019/03/23/henry-avocado-recalls-whole-avocados-because-of-possible-health-risk%EF%BB%BF. (go back ↩)
- ^Stevens, Matt. “California Company Recalls Avocados From Six States Over Listeria Fears.” N. Y. Times, 25 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/business/avocado-recall-california.html. (go back ↩)
