TreeHouse Foods has expanded a recall linked to the potential presence of listeria to encompass “all products” manufactured at a single facility in Ontario, Canada.
The largest private-label supplier in the US first announced a voluntary recall last Friday (18 October) for “certain frozen waffle products” produced at its Brantford factory in Ontario.
As of today (22 October), it now includes “frozen toaster waffle, Belgian waffle and pancake products due to the potential to be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes”, TreeHouse said in a statement, noting all the concerned items are still within their shelf life.
All the products concerned were distributed throughout the US and Canada, in “all states and provinces” and packed in various formats under a lengthy list of brands detailed in the TreeHouse statement.
Consumers and retailers can identify the affected products through the universal product codes (UPC) on the backs of packaging, along with the lot codes and best-by dates on the end of cartons. The codes can be found on the TreeHouse website.
The identified products have been sold “through most retail stores, including but not limited to Albertsons, Aldi, Dollar General, Foodhold, HEB, Kroger, Publix, Target and Walmart”, the New York-listed company advised.
“This recall was expanded based on additional testing at the manufacturing facility. There have been no confirmed reports of illness linked to the recalled products to date,” TreeHouse said.
“Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider.”
It added the US Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have been informed throughout the recall.
In a Q&A put up on its website, TreeHouse said the recall was based on “routine testing at our manufacturing facility in Brantford”.
The company said: “We have been diligent with our investigation to identify the scope of the recall. At this time, our investigation has not identified any other production lots or manufacturing lines that are in scope of this recall.”
Answering its own question on whether the facility was still in operation, TreeHouse said: “We are undergoing all the necessary protocols, including deep cleaning, sanitation, hygienic restoration procedures, and verification of those activities to confirm effectiveness before we restart production and shipments from that line again.
“The root cause has been identified and is in the process of being addressed, and we intend to restart production shortly.”
TreeHouse also initiated another product recall in September last year for private-label broth, a recall that impacted the business financially.
That recall was linked to a US factory in Cambridge, Maryland, and was connected with "non-pathogenic microbial contamination".