A dead bat was found in a prepackaged salad mix in Florida. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the issue. The manufacturer, Fresh Express, has rushed to recall the batch of salad that was shipped to Walmart Stores.
According to the CDC, two people had started eating the salad before noticing that there was a dead bat inside the package. The two people were recommended for treatment for rabies. Though, the CDC said that the risk of rabies transmission was extremely low.
“Upon receiving notification, both Walmart and Fresh Express food safety and rapid response teams, in close coordination with regulatory authorities, acted immediately to review all relevant records, launch an intensive investigation and initiate product removal and recall procedures,” Fresh Express said in a press release.
The bat was in a deteriorated condition
Fresh Express issued a recall for a lot of its organic Marketside Spring Mix, with a production code of G089B19 that had a best-if-used-by date of April 14. The UPC code was 6 8113132897 5 on the bottom of the 5-ounce container. The company is working with Walmart representatives to remove the entire batch of salad from the stores’ shelves throughout the southeastern United States. It has also offered a full refund to every person who bought one of the packages. According to the company, this would be the sole product affected. They still haven’t figured out what happened and how the bat got there.
“Fresh Express takes matters of food safety very seriously and rigorously complies with all food safety regulations including the prescribed Good Agricultural Practices,” said the company in a statement.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the dead bat was found in a deteriorating condition. It was sent to a CDC lab to be tested for rabies, but given its deteriorated condition, the CDC haven’t figured out if it had rabbis. However, it stated that the chances of rabies transmission are extremely low but no zero.
Fresh Express urged people to throw the salads out
The company called people who had one of the prepackaged salads to throw it out. The authorities also recommended people who had eaten salads from that lot and found animal matter, to contact their local health department immediately. There haven’t been other reports of animal matter.
“People who have eaten the recalled salad and did not find animal material are not at risk and do not need to contact their health department,” said the health authorities.
The two people who found the dead bat had already started to eat the salad mix. They were recommended to start a post-exposure rabies treatment for precaution, though they are fine at the moment and show no signs of rabies.
Fresh Express has recalled packages of the salad mix that were sold at Walmarts in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Anyone with questions can call the Fresh Express Consumer Response Center 800.242.5472 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central time.
Source: USA TODAY