France Recalls a Pasta Salad with Surimi Nationwide Over Listeria Monocytogenes

RappelConso, France's official product recall portal, published on October 6 the recall of a pasta salad with surimi, presented in a plastic bowl. The reason is the presence of Listeria monocytogenes, detected in a check. The product was sold in stores nationwide between October 1 and 6, and the recall affects a single lot.

The notice asks consumers to stop eating it and return it to the point of sale, where a refund is offered, or to destroy it. The authorities remind that anyone with fever along with headache and muscle pain should consult a doctor, and that pregnant women, older adults and immunocompromised people are the most exposed. Listeriosis can be serious and its incubation period reaches up to eight weeks, so symptoms can appear long after the product was eaten.

Prepared salads made with cooked pasta, surimi and sauce are a ready-to-eat food that is eaten cold and with no later step that eliminates bacteria. That matters with Listeria monocytogenes, which, unlike other pathogens, grows at refrigeration temperatures and can multiply throughout the shelf life if it reaches the product through cross-contamination after cooking, through already processed ingredients or from surfaces and equipment in the plant.

For TAAG, the case is an example of why ready-to-eat foods need Listeria verification beyond the cooking of the pasta: in the finished product, in the ingredients added cold and on the surfaces of the packing line. Real-time PCR methods deliver results in a few hours and make it possible to decide whether to hold a lot before it leaves for points of sale, which limits the scope of a recall like this one.