#361 VG's Fat Free Caesar Dressing 5 pounds

Spartan Central Kitchen recalled this product and the FDA reported the enforcement action on 24 October 2012 as Class II. The recall was initiated by the firm. During an FDA inspection, microbiological swabs were collected and the results found that 21 sub samples in zones 1, 2 & 3 are positive for Listeria Monocytogenes (L.M.), Listeria innocua (L.I.) or Listeria seeligeri (L.S.). The firm is voluntarily recalling all products manufactured from August 20th to September 10th 2012 due to the possible contamination. All lots with sell by dates on or befo

The record

Every field below is published by the FDA in the openFDA food enforcement database. Check the FDA notice before acting on any recall: this page is a reading of the public record, not a substitute for it.

Product

#361 VG's Fat Free Caesar Dressing 5 pounds

Reason for recall

During an FDA inspection, microbiological swabs were collected and the results found that 21 sub samples in zones 1, 2 & 3 are positive for Listeria Monocytogenes (L.M.), Listeria innocua (L.I.) or Listeria seeligeri (L.S.). The firm is voluntarily recalling all products manufactured from August 20th to September 10th 2012 due to the possible contamination. All lots with sell by dates on or befo

Recalling firm

Spartan Central Kitchen

Firm location

Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States

Classification

Class II

Status

Terminated

Recall number

F-0212-2013

Quantity

123

Distribution

MI and OH only.

Initiated

10 September 2012

Reported by FDA

24 October 2012

Terminated

19 February 2013

Firm notified by

E-Mail

Product codes

All products with the sell by dates on or before October 11th.

Reading this record

Five things about this record are not in the record itself, and each one changes how it should be read.

• Class II means the FDA judged a remote probability of serious harm, or a probability of temporary or medically reversible harm. The class is assigned by an agency health hazard evaluation under 21 CFR 7.41, not by the firm.
• The firm started this recall itself. Most FDA food recalls are voluntary, and a recall is a food safety plan working rather than failing. The circumstances in which the agency asks for one instead are set out in 21 CFR 7.45.
• This is one of 139 records covering the same recall event. The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so a recall of a product line appears here many times. Counting these records as 139 separate recalls, which almost every published figure does, overstates it by a factor of 139. Every product code in this event is listed together on the record that covers the whole recall, which is the page a search engine is pointed to for all 139 of them.
• The recall ran for 5 months, from 10 September 2012 to termination on 19 February 2013. Termination means the agency judged that all reasonable effort had been made, under 21 CFR 7.55, and it says nothing about whether product remained in circulation.
• The distribution pattern names 1 state, and the FDA published the enforcement report 6 weeks after the firm began the recall.
• Recalls of a sauce, dip or condiment run a median of 6 months, so this one was about typical for its category. Sauces and dips sit at the intersection of the acidified foods rule and the allergen rule: an equilibrium pH above 4.6 turns a shelf-stable product into a botulism risk, and the ingredient list is long enough that an allergen is easy to lose.

What this recall was for

Filed under sauces, dips and condiments. A product can sit in more than one.

Other sauces, dips and condiments recalls for the same reason

These are the closest records in the corpus: the same kind of food, recalled for a hazard this record also names. Unlike the firm’s own records below, they come from different companies, which is what makes them a pattern rather than a history.

Other records from Spartan Central Kitchen

The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so several of these are frequently one recall event. 139 other records name this firm.

All 140 records for Spartan Central Kitchen

All 2012 recalls · All FDA food recall data