The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) upgraded the recall to Class 1 last week, which means that the organisation has judged that there is a “reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death”.
Williams Farms Repack LLC first informed the FDA of the recall at the end of April, with nine packaged tomato SKUs sold and distributed in the states Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina impacted. No best before dates were provided.
The tomatoes were distributed between 23 April and 28 April, with no illnesses reported to date. The FDA has encouraged anyone that has purchased one of the SKUs involved in the recall to return the product for a full refund or dispose of it.
“Salmonella [is] an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the FDA said when the recall was first announced.
“Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, [diarrhoea] (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.”
Most people are able to recover from Salmonella induced symptoms without requiring treatment, but in some cases the illness can be fatal. According to 2019 estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 238 deaths related to Salmonella in the US annually, while 12,500 people are hospitalised.
In the UK, Lidl recalled several batches of ‘Sol & Mar Chicharricos BBQ Pork Scratchings’ at the end of March because of Salmonella contamination.
The batches involved in the recall all have August 2025 best before dates and should not be consumed. They have withdrawn from sale, but could still be in the possession of UK consumers.
