Salads recalled over tomatoes possibly tainted with salmonella

Grape tomatoes found in a variety of salads at some western U.S. grocery stores may be contaminated with salmonella, the grower has warned. So check that chef salad, Cobb salad, orzo salad, seafood salad, Greek salad, mozzarella salad or chicken salad, among others, in the refrigerator. It may have been recalled.

No illnesses have been reported, so there’s little need to panic. But the recall of the tomatoes -- and thus, the salads -- highlights, once again, the number of products that can be affected by one instance (or possible instance) of contamination.

Taylor Farms Pacific is recalling salads containing grape tomatoes that it prepared for Albertsons, Raley’s, Safeway, Savemart, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart, according to a press release by the company. See the full list of stores, states and salads here.

The products were packaged for stores in Arizona, Oregon, California, Nevada, Washington, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah.

The tomato grower, Six L’s of Immokalee, Fla., voluntarily recalled one lot of grape tomatoes on Friday after a distributor in New York found that a random sample tested positive for salmonella. The lot was packaged on April 11 and sent to North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Georgia and Canada. That recall has led to the recall of the salads.

Small salmonella outbreaks this year have come from turkey burgers and cantaloupe.

Infection from the bacteria causes diarrhea, cramps and fever -- the CDC has more detail here.

But nothing has rivaled last year’s egg recall ... or the peanut-product recall of 2009.

healthkey@tribune.com

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