The recall is aimed at Sunnyside Farms Diced Organic Butternut Squash, which comes pre-diced in plastic containers. The 32-oz. Diced Organic Butternut Squash is manufactured by Safeway Fresh Foods and sold sold at Costco. The suspect use-by date is 09/19/2023, it is item number 20522, and its UPC code is 040232244124. The organic butternut squash product is sold exclusively at Costco stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and also in and around the capitol, Washington, D.C.
Safeway Fresh Foods is located in Vineland, New Jersey. The testing revealed the presence of Escherichia coli O45, which is rare form of E. coli. It is one of a family of E. coli that causes severe gastrointestinal disease. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administrating, or FDA, this recall is of limited reach, and no illnesses have yet been identified.
“Not so fast,” however, says E. coli lawyer Ron Simon. “Its too early to tell where this will lead. Unlike the common E. coli O157, which shows us readily in a stool culture, E. coli O45 may not be as quickly identified in sick individuals. In addition, contaminated products mean that there has been a breakdown in the good manufacturing process of a food manufacturer, and other products might end up being added to the recall. At present, I would be careful to not purchase any of the pre-diced products sold under the Sunnyside Farms brand until this investigation has been concluded.”
Simon is correct in that many recalls end up being expanded to include additional products made in a similar fashion, using the same equipment, or being sourced from the same supplier, is all too common. For now, this limited recall, and the investigation into how it became contaminated, needs to run its course.
