This sad news comes via ABC News. “We’re recalling this product out of an abundance of caution after finding Listeria Monocytognes at the manufacturing facility, but not in tested finished product,” the company explained in its announcement, adding that:
The FDA and the food industry continue to advance standards and procedures to improve food safety protocols nationwide. In the past, the standard for recalls has been confirmation of a contaminant on actual finished product. In elevating their standards, FDA is expanding their criteria for recalls to include presence of contaminants in the general environment. Working closely with the above mentioned experts, we are striving to exceed that and lead the industry in food safety.
Listeria is perhaps most famous as the specter haunting every pregnant woman you know. ABC News explains:
In severe cases, the infections can cause stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions and sometimes be life threatening, according to the CDC. Nearly everyone infected with the bacteria ends up with an invasive infection, meaning it moves outside the gastrointestinal tract.
The agency’s latest published statistics from 2011 state that the disease causes approximately 1,600 illnesses and 260 deaths every year in the U.S.
Pregnant women are at least 10 times as likely as the general population to develop a listeria infection, which has been associated with miscarriage, stillbirth and premature delivery, according to the CDC.
Check your specific variety of hummus (it should have “a ‘Best Before’ date on or before January 23, 2017″) here; “No other Sabra products are affected,” according to the company.
