West Des Moines, Iowa — On April 27, 2015, Hy-Vee, Inc. issued a recall for Hy-Vee Summer Fresh Pasta Salad that is sold in its stores’ kitchen department cold cases and salad bars. The pasta was recalled after Hy-Vee was notified the frozen vegetables used to make the ready-to-eat pasta were potentially contaminated with Listeria. The frozen vegetables were produced by Inventure Foods, Jefferson, Georgia. A Hy-Vee spokesman told KIWA that Listeria was discovered in the Inventure Foods plant, and the grocery chain pulled the product purely as a precautionary measure.
The company spokesman says the only store in the four-county area that had received any of the recalled salads is the Hy-Vee in Sioux Center. In addition, stores in Storm Lake, the Gordon Drive store in Sioux City, and the South Louise Avenue location in Sioux Falls were also affected.
Listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
The Summer Fresh Pasta Salad is packaged upon customer request from the kitchen cold case and would have been packaged in 16oz. (1 lb.) or 32oz. (2 lb.) clear plastic containers. A light tan scale-produced label with the product name, weight and price would have been affixed to the container.
The recalled product would have been available in a limited number of stores between April 9, 2015 and April 27, 2015.
Hy-Vee has since pulled the ready-to-eat Summer Fresh Pasta Salad from its distribution channels and the stores in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota to which it was distributed. All stores that received the product have been instructed to dispose of the product.
To date, Hy-Vee says they have not received any complaints associated with the Summer Fresh Pasta Salad.
Customers who purchased Summer Fresh Pasta Salad from the Hy-Vee kitchen department cold case or salad bar between April 9, 2015 and April 27, 2015, should dispose of the product or return it to the store for a refund.
A complete list of the affected Hy-Vee stores can be found at Hy-Vee.com
