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As if everything else wasn’t bad enough, now you can’t have onions. Or salad. Or peaches. Multiple national recalls for produce highlight the problems with our fresh food supply chain in America. Here’s what you need to know.
Earlier this summer, we learned of a massive recall involving salad mixes from Fresh Express. The mixed garden salad, which contained lettuce, red cabbage, and shredded carrots, could also contain the microscopic parasite Cyclospora.
Thankfully, the CDC declared the outbreak to be over in mid-July. Hundreds of people got sick across the country, however, and as the recall expanded, it was easy to see why.
A single processing plant in Streamwood, Illinois, was responsible for packaging multiple brands of bagged salad. Not only were the salads sold under the “Fresh Express” brand, but they were also labeled the store brand at Giant Eagle, Aldi, Hy-Vee, Target, and more.
Most of us don’t think about the fact that our food is filtered through a relatively small number of suppliers and packagers. An outbreak like this pulls back the curtain to reveal just how vulnerable our food supply chain truly is.
Currently, the FDA is tracking a widespread outbreak of salmonella that originated in a California-based company. Thomson International shipped red, white, yellow, and sweet onions all across the country. These onions were primarily sold in grocery stores under a variety of brands–do you see a theme?
As of this writing, more than 900 cases have been reported. Of those, over 100 required hospitalization. In a time when hospital beds are at an absolute premium, this outbreak adds further stress to the healthcare system.
In addition to the bulk bags shipped to grocery chains for resale, the onions were used in other ways, too. Several stores have recalled cheese dips and spreads made with onions from Thomson International.
The meal kit service HelloFresh just issued a recall late last week for kits that contained the onions. However, the company stressed that if you cooked the produce according to the recipe, you should be fine. As long as the onions are cooked to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit, the bacteria will be killed off.
Late last week, Aldi and Target pulled bags of fresh peaches from their shelves. Yet another salmonella outbreak made almost 70 people sick, with cases across multiple states.
Although only Aldi and Target have placed recalls so far, it’s likely that others will follow. The Wawona Packing Company may have supplied other retailers or sold peaches to be repackaged or prepared for sale in other ways. Because of the way the supply chain works, a single bad apple–or in this case, peach–could literally rot the whole barrel.
