Listeria in bagged iceberg lettuce, flurry of recalls

Listeria in bagged ‘iceberg’ salad. The Ministry of Health has recalled some batches of 19 brands for “microbiological risk”linked to the bacterium that causes the infectious disease listeriosis. The brands involved are: Vivinatura, Tres Bon, Torre in Pietra, Tornese, Sigma, Selex, Polenghi, Ortoromi, Ortofresco pulito, Natura è, Mi Mordi, Latte Francia, Il mio orto, Il Castello, Colline Verdi, Ciro Amadio, Centrale del latte, Alifresh and Foglia Verde Eurospin. For everyone “we invite you to return the product to the point of sale where it was purchased”reads the recall. To identify the individual batches for which the recall is planned, it is possible to consult the website of the Ministry of Health (Look).

Symptoms and incubation of listeriosis

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium that is widespread in the environment, soil, water and vegetation. “Its ability to grow and reproduce at very variable temperatures (from refrigeration temperatures up to 45 degrees centigrade), as well as its ability to tolerate salty environments and acid pH make it a bacterium that is very resistant to various environmental conditions, including those found in food production and processing”, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità recalls on its website. Listeriosis can take on different clinical forms, “from acute febrile gastroenteritis, the most typical of food poisoning, which occurs within a few hours of ingestion (it is generally self-limiting in healthy subjects), to invasive or systemic, which in the most serious cases can lead to the onset of meningitis, encephalitis and severe septicemia. In systemic forms Incubation can last up to 70 days“, concludes the ISS.