The 2020 Aldi Salad Recall That Infected Hundreds
No one likes a food recall, especially one that spread across more than a dozen states and sickened hundreds of people. The culprits of this 2020 outbreak incident were iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and carrots in bagged salads. At Aldi, the contaminated veggies were in the Little Salad Bar Garden Salad mixes, though the recalled produce was also sold in salad mixes under the Fresh Express brand and other private labels at stores such as Giant Eagle, Hy-Vee, Jewel-Osco, ShopRite, and Walmart.
The affected salads were voluntarily recalled by Aldi on June 23, 2020, because of possible Cyclospora cayetanensis contamination, a parasite that survives in water or food that has come in contact with infected human feces. It can lead to cyclosporiasis, an intestinal infection that causes severe gastrointestinal issues and flu-like symptoms.
Fortunately, this was not one of the deadliest food recalls to sweep the U.S. The illness can be treated with antibiotics, and there were no fatalities tied to this outbreak. There were, however, 701 documented illnesses and 38 hospitalizations (per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration).
What caused these bagged salads to be contaminated with cyclospora?
Three months after the initial recall, the FDA concluded its investigation. The agency was not able to definitively determine the source of the cyclospora contamination, though it did look into a South Florida farm and the surrounding area and found the parasite present in a regional water canal in Port St. Lucie. Because of limitations in genetic typing, the FDA could not say for certain that the documented illnesses were caused by the same parasites.
The recalled salads were sold in Aldi locations in 10 different states. Including the other brands and stores, 14 states in total had confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis. Fresh Express bagged salads were also linked to an outbreak in Canada, with 370 documented cases (per the Government of Canada). According to the FDA, the highest concentrations of illnesses in the United States were in Illinois (211) and Iowa (206).