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 Officials are investigating "a multistate cluster" of Salmonella infections, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
August 30th, 2012
08:30 PM ET
Up to 1 million mangoes recalled in Salmonella outbreakUp to 1 million mangoes are being recalled voluntarily because they may be contaminated with Salmonella, as a preventive measure in the wake of 103 infections nationwide, a food distributor announced Thursday. The mangoes bear the Daniella brand sticker with one of the following PLU numbers: 3114, 4051, 4311, 4584 or 4959, said Splendid Products of Burlingame, California. The mangoes were sold as individual fruit throughout the country, including at Costco, Save Mart Supermarkets, Food 4 Less, Ralph's, Topco stores, El Super, Kroger, Giant-Eagle, Stop & Shop, Aldi, and some Whole Foods stores, the produce firm said.
Federal, state and Canadian officials are investigating "a multistate cluster" of 103 Salmonella Braenderup infections, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Preliminary information indicates that mangoes are a likely source for the illnesses. and U.S. officials are trying to determine the source of mangoes that may be linked to U.S. cases, the FDA said. The California Department of Public Health has reported the majority of the cases - 73 - in the United States, the FDA said. Ernest DelBuono, a spokesman for Splendid Products, said about 100,000 boxes of the fruit were sold to retailers and wholesalers nationwide, and a box carries between eight to 10 mangoes. The distributor didn't have an exact count on how many or which states are impacted by the voluntary recall, DelBuono said. The fruit was cultivated and harvested in Mexico and was sold in the United States between July 12 and August 29, the distribution firm said. Mangoes have been linked to a number of have been linked to recent cases of salmonellosis in Canada and may be linked to cases in California and perhaps other states, the distributor said. Splendid Products sought the recall "out of an abundance of caution" and is conducting it in consultation with the FDA and the California Department of Public Health, the firm said. "We want to let everyone know our top priority is public safety," Splendid Products general manager Larry Nienkerk said in a statement. "We have notified all of our customers and we are working with all the government agencies that are involved. We didn't want to wait." Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever, and they develop within eight to 72 hours of eating the contaminated food, the distributor said. While most people recover from the illness, which lasts four to seven days, salmonellosis can be severe or even life-threatening for infants, older people, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, the distributor said. Those who bought the recalled fruit shouldn't eat them, and if a mango doesn't have an identifying sticker, consumers should consider throwing them out or returning them to the store, the company said. If consumers who are unsure if the mango is included in the recall or have additional questions, they can call the distributor at  (866) 918-8758 on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern and on Saturday, September 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern.
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Man, I just ate some mangos, then I came to my computer to get on CNN to relax and then I read this!
You're funny. Thanks, after the Republican convention spectacle (which I tried not to watch) I needed a laugh.
I've been traveling the world and eating stuff from street vendors in third and fourth world countries and no salmonella and e-coli poisoning for people living there or visitors eating it...why is that we in America, in our cleanest and sterile environment are faced with e-coli and salmonella issues every day.....fish, meat, vegetables and fruits are sold as-is in it's natural state on the streets without refrigeration and the other crap we find in our food supply chain....it is time we go back and become less sophisticated...we have the highest levels of cancer, heart related disease, autism, diabetes, obesity...and everything else..and we are killing ourselves.....
The foods is killing us!
If I was in a 3rd world country making a dollar a day to export food I couldn't afford myself I would pop a squat on your food too.
I came from the Philippines, considered a third world nation, filhty in comparison to the US but we are so exposed to various deseases that we have developed all sort to antibodies. Our generation, aged 55 and above, will always test positive on Tubercolosis not because we are sick but because we had TB epidemic when we were young, all kids on our generation were vaccinated and have developed TB antibodies. In America, we are so safety and clean conscious and we sterilize ourselves so much that we don't get sick and never get a chance to build antibodies. So when a minor outbreak of virus of any kind, we are down and out immediately. One in a while there is an advantage on eating dirt and wading on filhty water like third world nation do.
How do you know it isn't present? Few of those countries have anything like the monitoring infrastructure or detection apparatus available in the US. Food-borne disease can be and probably are very widespread, though unidentified as such.
Excellent comments Globe... I too have been tripping around the world and eating from street vendors, in places that should have more of these types of diseases. I always wonder with some of these outbreaks if there isn't something else to consider... maybe corporate sabotage could be one of them... I know it isn't likely and yet, as you point out - we should not be seeing so many outbreaks of E Coli, Salmonella .. etc.
Etm's right in principle; playing in the dirt gives us antibodies that keep us safe all our lives. Playing on carpet gives you Kawasaki disease.
maybe these 3rd world countries do have outbreaks, but there are no good journalistic avenues to get the word out. Not every country has a CNN...I am sure they do have outbreaks you just don't hear about it because it doesn't affect you.
Huh? Mango flesh cannot be possibly contaminated with Salmonella. It got to be on the outside of the fruit. Anybody eats mangoes with skin? Raise your hand. Darwin society has free admission waiting for you.
Cutting into it transfers the bacteria.
Unless you expect contamination and wash it with bleach or soap first, cutting through the skin drags salmonella into the flesh with the knife blade.
Olaf, you must not know much about mangoes. Did you know some rare varieties of mangoes have such thin soft skin that it is very much edible like the fruit inside?
I buy my mangoes at Walmart so I won't worry about this.
How come nearly every time I hear of this happening, it is contaminated foods that originated in Mexico? It's not every food scare, but articles abound about lettuce contaminated with human feces, etc. etc.
Because the workers take a crap and then don't wash their hands.
Half the time it happens in America; big rains bring in runoff from cattle or pigs and everything gets a dose.
It isn't that the mangos from Mexico are contaminated in Mexico but only apparently after they enter the USA. There have been no salmonella outbreaks from eating mangos in Mexico, and I live right in the middle of the mango agricultural region. You should be looking elsewhere for the problem because, like similar accusations levied against other foodstuffs from Mexico, this one is simply false and reeks of protectionism.
Are we ready for those Soilent Green Pills yet?
R.I.P. Harry Harrison
I have a novel idea... Wash your fruit before you cut into it! Problem solved.
Use bleach water or strong soap, or I'll get you. I'm a tough guy, I've made my bones. Right, Mango?
I had the tastiest mangoes in India.
Thats what happens when you use sewage water on crops.
Nobody touch'a the Mango!
Aw, go suck a mango.
Exactly why I buy only US-grown food for my family.
um most of the food borne illnesses and outbreaks come from the US.. you should really re think that.
Yeah, that's not really gonna help you. Too much of it happens inside the US.
Your hands and feet are mangoes but your gonna be a genius anyway.
Your hands and feet are mangoes but your gonna be a genius anyway.
Your hands and feet are mangoes but your gonna be a genius anyway.
Your hands and feet are mangoes but your gonna be a genius anyway
My mango is a mango, genius. It's mangoes all the way down.
My guess is that it came from the hideously filthy knife that he probably uses on everything else...
I feel so vindicated. Now you can all stop calling me names.
You are a murderer. I never killed anyone, just gave them the Chihuahua Cha cha.
The mangoes were cultivated and harvested in Mexico, that says enoughfor me. The world needs to shut that country down, permanently.
Buckshot – They should shut YOU down. Ignorant racists like you have NO place in this world.
In third world countries, I avoided eating anything from street vendors carts. Didn't look to appitising to me.
Don't worry, they were spitting on your food in the restaurants too. Ugly Americans; eat a mango and die.
I'm very close to this situation and I think most people will find it interesting that not one single mango has been detected with any salmonella contamination. The Canadian Food Inspection Service (CFIA) determined that one of the common factors of the salmonella infected people was that they had consumed mangoes. When that was determined, they traced the source(s), to retail stores and determined that Daniella label mangoes were the most common brand in those stores. The Daniella brand was traced to the importer, who was the only company that had imported that label during the time period the infections occurred. The situation is the same in California, where 67% of the 70+ infected people had eaten mangoes. The California Health investigators have followed Canada's lead in naming Daniella label mangoes as a likely source, not the definitive, proven source. This situation is not like the North Carolina or Indiana cantaloupe situations where contamination was proven with positive samples from fruit packed in the suspect facilities. A very good company, Splendid Products, the US distributor for the Mexican grower, will very likely go bankrupt through no fault of their own. If Daniella mangoes were the source, the blame goes to the grower, not Splendid, who was the sales agent for the grower. Sadly, Splendid will take the hit because of their position in the supply chain. Every single facility that Daniella mangoes passed through in the supply chain is third party certified at the highest level (GFSI) including the packing shed in Mexico. Every company involved acted responsibly in operating clean, independently certified facilities.
Additionally, there were many more Daniella mangoes in the distribution channels than the 100,000 reported above. Statistically, some 200 incidents of infection out of several million Daniella mangoes consumed during the recall time period is insignificant, obviously except for the people sickened. It is a very sad situation, both for the affected consumers and Splendid Products. I think our health officials do a good job, but sometimes innocent people get hurt. That's the case currently with Splendid Products. The public needs to know that food safety is viewed by people in the produce industry as the single most important factor in conducting their business. The vast majority operate clean facilities and any incident like this one which is not yet explained becomes very painful. We want to sell clean food and our worst nightmare is a situation like this that we have no control over, that was likely an accident, that infected people, and yet may never be proven.
Excellent comments Produce Man.
Interesting how the same Mangos sold at Whole Food$ are also sold at Costco....
What in the world are MANGOES?
It is a bubbles fruit..aka golden fruit.. unfortunately which may not be in your LOW budget!!
I ate a Mango once.
Eat me.
I ate the last mango in Paris, ...
(apologies to Jimmy Buffet, et al)
Basic rule of food safety – if you are going to eat it raw, then wash it. - problem solved (if it is a problem at all).
Eat me raw.
i love mangoes and cantaloupe and will continue to consume. there are not many food items around that have not at one time or another been infected;
dang i have a mango im about to have for lunch.. Should i eat it??
Bought it last week..
I've got this beeeeautiful, ready to eat, luscious mango
And I decided to kill myself and family by first spraying it with Clorox bleach
then washing it with HOT water and Meyer's dish soap
before peeling, cutting and eating it.
We all expect to die of bleach poisoning first
and wonder if this terrifying beauty
will still taste good after the torture I put it through
ps
I survived years of mainland Chinese street food with NO Problems
Living in Fear is The American Way
right?
so we're going down on the fence of absurdity
PPS
Thanks everyone for all the great laughs this morning
and the clear info, Produce Man