Caesar salad kits recalled from Sam’s Club for possible listeria contamination
A recall of prepared chicken Caesar salad kits includes nearly 93,000 pounds of products that may be contaminated with listeria. The recalled Caesar salad kits from California-based APPA fine foods were sold at Sam's Club Café restaurants nationwide.
The Sam's Club logo is seen at a store in Bentonville, Ark. A California food supplier is recalling 92,657 lbs. of chicken Caesar salad products sold in Sam's Club Cafés with possible listeria contamination.
Sarah Conard/Reuters/File
A California food supplier is recalling nearly 93,000 lbs. of fully-cooked chicken Caesar salad kit products that may be contaminated with listeria.
The salad kits were sold in café restaurants in wholesaler Sam’s Club locations nationwide (Sam’s Club is owned by Wal-Mart Corp.).
The Corona, Calif.-based APPA Fine Foods and the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Information Service (FSIS) announced the recall late last week after two samples of the chicken portion of the products tested positive for listeria at Sam’s Club locations in Michigan. Other components of the salad kits were tested, but only the chicken products tested positive, according to FSIS.
“The salad kits were shipped nationwide to one bulk warehouse chain for retail sale in its in-store cafés,” a statement on the FSIS website reads.
The recalled products include 11 oz. clear plastic containers and 6.5 oz. boxes labeled, "APPA Fine Foods/Sam’s Club Daily Chef CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD KIT” with “Use by” dates of 8/14/14, 8/21/14, 8/27/14, 9/1/14, 9/3/14 or 9/17/14.
Kits can also be identified by the case codes 141851, 141922, 141951, 141991, 142021, 142201 or 142131. The box labels have the establishment number “P-21030” inside the USDA mark of inspection.
So far, no illnesses linked to consumption of the product have been reported to APPA Fine Foods or FSIS.
Customers who purchased the affected products should throw them out or return them to the store for a refund.
Appa Fine Foods is a major supplier of prepared foods, and its partners include several major retailers, including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s Costco, Safeway, Albertson’s, Schwan’s, and Jamba Juice. In 2010, the company recalled over 7,000 lbs. of ready-to-eat chicken pasta salad products that contained cilantro with possible salmonella contamination. That recall mostly affected products shipped to the grocery retailer Trader Joe’s.
Customers with further questions about the chicken Caesar salad recall can call Thom Rindt, of APPA Fine Foods, at 951-547-8111, or visit the recall notice on the USDA FSIS website, here. When available, that link will also include a list of affected Sam's Club locations.