Vita Nova Salmon May Be Contaminated

July 2008

Vita Food Products, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois has issued a recall of its Vita Nova Salmon. Twelve individual packages of the fish may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The product was sold at Kroger stores in Houston, Texas on or after July 22, and about 200 packages have either been sold or are on sale at grocery stores in the Avenol, New Jersey metropolitan area. Each package bears the Vita logo in the upper left corner and contains four to 10 bacon-style slices of smoked salmon. The announcement and recall only applies to packages that bear the code date of 11/16/08 198, which can be found on the left end flap of each package.

Those infected with Listeria normally suffer from short-term symptoms, including high fever, stiffness, severe headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. However, Listeria monocytogenes can lead to serious and sometimes fatal infections in children, elderly, and others with weak immune systems. Listeria poisoning can also cause some pregnant women to suffer miscarriages or stillbirths.