Four New York state residents were hospitalized with complications from Listeria poisoning as part of a multi-state food poisoning outbreak associated with Dole packaged salads, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Doctors at the CDC say cases of invasive listeriosis that lead to hospitalization or death are rare, even among people who eat food contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. The risks of such adverse consequences are very low, making these cases all the more unfortunate.
Dole Listeria Lawsuit Update
DNA fingerprints of Listeria monocytogenes have been found in bagged salad produced at Dole’s Springfield, Ohio, food facility. Those prints are a molecular match to the bacteria found in patients of this outbreak. As stated by the CDC in a public announcement: “Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence available to date indicate that packaged salads produced at the Dole processing facility in Springfield, Ohio and sold under various brand names are the likely source of this outbreak.”