Slade Gorton & Co. on Friday voluntarily recalled its cooked, ready-to-eat, frozen langostinos marketed under the Icybay brand because they may be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.
The recalled product was distributed to retailers in Massachusetts and Maryland, including Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. and Giant Food, over the past several weeks. It was also shipped to wholesalers in 19 states, stretching from Maine to Colorado.
Produced from July 18 to Aug. 13 last year, the recalled product retails in 1-pound, clear plastic packages with a UPC 0-73129-61672-8 and an expiration date of June 2009, and it wholesales in 5-pound clear plastic packages containing 70-90 count, 90-125 count or 120-150 count langostinos.
No illnesses have been reported, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Distribution of the product has been suspended while the FDA and Slade Gorton test product and investigate the source of the bacteria.
The recall came after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found listeria in a sample of langostinos it tested.
"While the report from Canada only involves a small sample of the langostinos, we are issuing this voluntary recall, as a precautionary measure, out of concern for the health and safety of the consuming public," said Kim Gorton, president of Slade Gorton in Boston, in a press release.
Listeria can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women and serious and potentially fatal infections in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, though healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
