A huge recall of sunflower seeds prompted by fears of Listeria contamination is leading to the recall of even more products sold in Canada.
Atkins Nutritionals Inc. is recalling Atkins brand granola and energy bars containing the seeds. They include the Atkins Day Break Chocolaty Hazelnut Bar and Cranberry Almond, as well as the Atkins Chocolaty Chip Granola Bar.
The bars were sold in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says there have been no illnesses related to these products.
As well, the Kashi Company is recalling Kashi brand Trail Mix Whole Grain and Whole Grain Bars. The bars were sold across Canada by a variety of retailers.
Again, no illnesses have been linked to the bars. Still, consumers are being advised to throw them out or return them for a refund.
Both new recalls were issued after one of their ingredient suppliers was found to have distributed sunflower seeds that may be contaminated with Listeria.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it is still conducting a food safety investigation, and says other products may still be added to the recall list.
Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced the recall of several other products containing sunflower seeds.
They included Quaker Harvest brand Quinoa Granola Bars Chocolate Nut Medley and Quinoa Granola Bars Yogurt, Fruit & Nut. They also included certain lots of CLIF Bar Sierra Trail Mix Energy Bars.
In addition, all lots of two flavours of Spitz brand sunflower kernels have been being recalled: regular Salted and Dill Pickle flavour.
And some President’s Choice and Basse brand trail mixes and roasted sunflower seeds have also been recalled.
Consumers should not eat the recalled products but instead throw them out or returned to the store where they bought them for a refund.
All of the recalled products contained seeds manufactured by Sun-Opta, a Toronto-based sunflower seed supplier.
SunOpta’s president Rik Jacobs said in a news release last week that the company has identified the root causes of the contamination, taken steps to eliminate them, increased its product testing, and resumed operations at the Crookston, Minn. facility that produced the seeds.
“We are confident that through our work, in conjunction with external experts, we have identified and eliminated the root causes of the contamination and therefore resumed production of roasted sunflower kernel products at our facility in Crookston,” Jacobs said in the release.
“We have also enhanced our testing activities prior to all customer shipments, to give our customers the confidence that all products meet or exceed rigorous quality and food safety specifications.
Food contaminated with Listeria may not look or smell spoiled, but can still make you sick. Symptoms of listeriosis can include vomiting, nausea, persistent fever, muscle aches, severe headache and neck stiffness.
Symptoms usually begin about three days after eating contaminated food but the illness can incubate and take as long as 70 days to cause symptoms.
