SACRAMENTO (June 21, 2007) – Consumers, particularly persons with weakened immune systems and pregnant women, should not eat certain brands of diced yellow onions because the products could be contaminated with dangerous bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes, and may cause serious health problems, State Public Health Officer Dr. Mark Horton warned today.

Gills Onions of Oxnard is voluntarily recalling 45,500 pounds of diced yellow onions which were distributed to retail and food service locations in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.  No illnesses have been reported in association with these products.   

The retail product was packed with the Trader Joe’s brand name, and sold at Trader Joe’s stores in 10-ounce, re-sealable flexible plastic pouches.  Consumers should look for the lot code 2017-R 22 1956D and a “Best if Used by 6/16/07” date on the back side of the pouch. 

Foodservice operators and distributors should look for cartons containing four, 5-lb. bags labeled with the Gills Onions Brand or the Sysco Natural Brand.  Both the carton and the bag have Lot 2017-R and a “Best-if-Used” by date of 06/16/07 or 06/18/07 printed directly on them.  The 06/18/07 “use by date” was not included in Gills Onions original advisory, but added by the California Department of Health Services after an investigation at the manufacturing plant.   

The recall was initiated after routine surveillance sampling conducted by the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Program detected Listeria monocytogenes in a pouch of “Trader Joes Freshly Diced and Ready to Use Onions”.  The Sysco and Gills brands are being recalled as a precaution.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in newborns, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.  Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.  Consumers with any of these symptoms should call their physician. 

Consumers who purchased these products should immediately discard them or return them to the point of purchase.  Consumers with questions can call Gill’s Onions at 1-800-348-2255.

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