Pork and Ham Recall as Fears Grow Over Listeria Outbreak

A Miami, Florida-based producer of Cuban-style cured meats is recalling about 9,330 pounds of ready-to-eat products after a sample was found to contain listeria, a potentially deadly bacteria, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has said.

In an alert issued on Thursday, the federal agency announced that Don Novo & Son was recalling five products over concerns they may have been contaminated.

FSIS said it was "concerned that some product may be in retailers' and consumers' refrigerators or freezers." It urged anyone who had bought the products under the recall to not eat them, and to return them to where they had been purchased.

Newsweek approached Don Novo & Son via email for comment on Friday, outside normal business hours.

It comes as a growing number of products containing cheese from a California dairy producer are being recalled over possible listeria contamination. The contamination is thought by officials to potentially be behind an outbreak of listeria infections across the U.S.

Nearly 60 food items containing queso fresco and cotija cheeses manufactured by Rizo-López Foods, of Modesto, California have been recalled over the issue.

The FDA said that, based on information shared with it and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the company "may be a potential source of illness in an ongoing nationwide listeria monocytogenes outbreak."

According to the CDC, the ongoing outbreak has led to 26 cases of illness since 2014, of which there have been 23 hospitalizations and two deaths across 11 states—the largest proportion of cases occurring in California.

An infection with listeria bacteria can cause a number of symptoms, with the worst affected usually being those with a weakened immune system, the elderly, pregnant women and newborns. Severe symptoms include miscarriages, stillbirths, seizures and death.

Those less affected can still suffer from fever, headaches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea and confusion.

FSIS said that a sample of Don Novo & Son's product collected by a state public health agency had tested positive for the presence of the bacteria, but stressed that there had been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of the company's products.

Included in the recall are one-pound packs of cooked chorizo and costillas ahumadas smoked pork ribs, as well as one-and-a-half pound lomo ahumado smoked pork loin; 5.4-5.5-pound packs of Cuban-brand mortadella; and 12-pound packs of jamon dulce sweet cooked ham.

All affected products were produced on December 21 and have expiry dates of March 30 this year.