You might want to skip the guacamole: avocados are being recalled in six states for fears that they might be contaminated with the potentially deadly bacteria, listeria.
Henry Avocado, an avocado grower based in California, has issued the recall after it became concerned that the dangerous bacteria listeria monocytogenes (known commonly as “listeria”) could be present in the avocados it had sold. The states subject to the recall are California, Arizona, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Florida. The avocado grower said that it sold its fruit in bulk to distributors in these 6 states.
The produce that is at risk of contamination are identified with stickers that label the affected avocados as “bravocado.” Some of the affected produce is also labeled and sold as “organic,” with stickers on the fruit saying “organic” and grown in California. The avocados subject to the recall were grown in California and sold in bulk to retailers and distributors. Henry Avocado also imports avocados from Mexico, but those avocados are not impacted by this health risk and recall.
In a statement issued alongside the recall, Henry Avocado stated that some of its avocados tested positive for the bacteria during routine random testing during a government inspection of the fruit at
the company’s California manufacturing facility. Therefore, the company said that it is calling for this voluntary recall out of an “abundance of caution” in order to protect the health of safety of its avocado consumers.
This is yet another instance of food contamination in a recent string of food and produce recalls. Other recent foods recalled in the United States include melons, romaine lettuce, beer, cookies, beef, pork and even breakfast cereal. The rise in recalls is raising concerns about the effectiveness of oversight by health and safety inspectors and governmental regulators in ensuring that the food consumers can buy is actually safe.
Listeria is a dangerous bacteria that is particularly risky for children, pregnant women, and the elderly. If consumed, the bacteria can cause headaches, fever, diarrhea, loss of balance and even convulsions. The risk is particularly high for pregnant women, because ingesting the bacteria can cause stillbirth.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is also promoting awareness of the recall to help spread the word to consumers who may be affected. This also is not the first time that avocados are subject to contamination by harmful listeria. In December 2018, the FDA released a report that found contamination of listeria monocytogenes bacteria in more than 17% of avocado skins that the federal agency sampled between 2014-2016. Even more worrisome is that the report found that about 0.2% of avocados tested showed the presence of listeria bacteria inside the meat of the avocados as well.
Health experts say that washing your avocados before cutting and eating can help reduce your risk of exposure to bacteria and other toxins on the outside of the avocado skins. Many consumers do not wash avocados because the skin is not edible; however, nutritionists say that washing the avocado skin is still important because the knife that cuts through the skin could drag the bacteria and other toxins into the avocado meat inside, and therefore bringing that deadly bacteria into your avocado toast and
guacamole.
If you have purchased avocados recently in Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Arizona or California, you should discard the produce immediately. You could also return the affected fruit to your supermarket or place of purchasing to receive a full refund.