Tainted Taffy Apples Cause Listeria Outbreak

UPDATE ON BIDART CO. CARAMEL APPLE RECALL (January 9, 2015):

The Bidart caramel apple recall has now been extended to include all Bidart Bros. Granny Smith and Gala apples still available in the marketplace.  To find out the brand names these apples are sold under and other information about the new recall and the original one, go to this FDA link:

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm429689.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

In the midst of the holiday season, the biggest news story involving food concerned contaminated caramel (taffy) apples. Caramel apples tainted with an organism called Listeria monocytogenes led to widespread illness and hospitalizations and even a small number of deaths.  Investigators now know that the listeria came from the apples, but how the apples came to be contaminated has not been announced and perhaps is still unknown.

As of December 30, 2014, a total of 32 people from 11 states--Arizona, California, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin--have become ill from the same strains of listeria found in the apples, and 31 required hospitalization.  Six of the patients have died, though it is unclear whether 2 of these deaths might have been caused by other problems, and one was definitely unrelated.

Listeria is an organism that some folks can fight off easily while others find it life-threatening.  Healthy individuals that come in contact with listeria may suffer no symptoms or only short-term ones such as fever, headache, nausea, and diarrhea.  Healthy patients can be successfully treated with antibiotics.  However, for young children, the germ can be deadly. For the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, a listeria infection can be quite serious.  Furthermore, pregnant women may experience a miscarriage or stillbirth from a listeria infection.

According to the Food Poison Journal, about 2,500 cases of listeriosis occur in the U.S. every year, and about 1 out of every 5 cases result in death.

The FDA has traced the distribution of the tainted apples to Bidart Brothers, a California company.  Some of the brand names of companies receiving these apples are the following: Happy Apple Company, Merb's Candies, California Snack Foods, Pacific Coast Fruit, and Kroger Caramel Apples. For more about the companies involved, see the sources listed below. 

Chances are, you couldn't find a caramel apple in a grocery store now if you wanted one.  These are, of course, primarily a fall item and especially popular around Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Many companies stop making and selling them by late November or even earlier. Commercially-produced caramel apples can have a shelf life of about a month, but they should be gone from stores by now, taken off the shelves either because they've expired or because of the related recalls. However, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has advised consumers not to eat commercially packaged caramel apples until more is known about the cause(s) of this outbreak. Although caramel apples are a fall seasonal product, contaminated commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples may still be for sale at grocery stores and other retailers nationwide or may be in consumers’ homes.

This investigation is rapidly evolving, and new information will be provided as it becomes available, says the CDC.

Meanwhile, if you want to make caramel apples at home, Google can help. Type "how to make caramel apples at home" into the search box, and you'll find a number of links to recipes. It doesn't sound very difficult or time-consuming to make.

According to the CDC, at this time, no illnesses related to this outbreak have been linked to apples that are not caramel-coated and not prepackaged or to caramel candy.

Source(s):

cdc.gov "Multistate Outbreak of Listeriosis Linked to Commercially Produced, Prepackaged Caramel Apples"

http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/caramel-apples-12-14/index.html

foodpoisonjournal.com "Latest Facts: Listeria Caramel Apple Outbreak"

http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/tags/listeria-lawyer/ - .VKxXXsYVdk4

fda.com "Merb's Candies Announces Voluntary Recall of Caramel Apples Due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes"

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm428310.htm

fda.com "California Snack Foods Announces Recall of Karm'l Dapples/All Styles"

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm428157.htm