Made Fresh Salads, Inc., a New York-based food producer, pulled all of its cream cheese and ready-to-eat deli salads off shelves after environmental testing found listeria bacteria inside its manufacturing plant.
The company issued the recall after sampling conducted by both the firm and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration turned up Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly foodborne pathogen, in portions of the facility. Made Fresh Salads has halted all production and distribution of the affected products while the investigation continues, Fox Business reported.
No illnesses have been reported so far. But the scope of the recall is broad, covering dozens of items sold across Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, three of New York City's most densely populated boroughs.
The recall covers cream cheese sold in five-pound and thirty-pound white plastic tubs, including apple cinnamon cream cheese, tofu vegetable spread, whipped cream cheese, and scallion cream cheese. Ready-to-eat deli salads on the list include chickpea salad, bow tie pesto, macaroni salad, and potato salad, also packed in large tubs and half-size aluminum pans.
Beyond those staples, the company also flagged seven-pound chocolate pudding, six-pound vanilla pudding, twelve-piece crab cakes, and twelve-piece potato croquettes. All affected items carry expiration dates between September 3 and September 18.
One complication for consumers: the products may have been repacked by retail locations in deli-style or other store-branded packaging. That means the original Made Fresh Salads labeling might not appear on the container a shopper actually bought. Some items also carried a "Northside" label, though the company did not clarify whether that is a separate brand or a sub-label.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection. Healthy adults may experience fever, headaches, stiffness, nausea, and diarrhea. For pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems, the consequences can be far more severe, including miscarriage, stillbirth, and death.
The FDA and Made Fresh Salads are still investigating how the contamination occurred and how long affected products may have been in circulation. The agency participated directly in the environmental sampling that flagged the problem, but neither the FDA nor the company has released a detailed timeline of when the contamination was first detected or how many total units reached store shelves.
Consumers who purchased any of the recalled items are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Several details remain unclear. The specific address of the manufacturing facility has not been disclosed. No lot numbers or UPC codes have been publicly listed. The full catalog of recalled deli salads, described only as "dozens" of items, has not been released in its entirety, with just four varieties named so far. And it is not yet known which retail locations repacked the products or what alternative packaging formats they used.
For shoppers in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, the practical advice is simple: if you bought cream cheese, deli salad, pudding, crab cakes, or potato croquettes from a local deli or grocery store and the expiration date falls between September 3 and September 18, throw it out or bring it back.
When a food company and a federal agency both find contamination inside a production facility and still cannot tell the public exactly how many products are affected or where they ended up, consumers deserve faster and fuller answers than they have gotten so far.