Wegmans recalls greens, sweet pea leaves and cat grass over salmonella risk

Wegmans issued a voluntary recall of its products containing micro greens, sweet pea leaves and cat grass due to potential contamination with salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration said last week.

The items include the 1.75-ounce Wegmans Organic Farm & Orchard Micro Greens, the five-ounce Wegmans Organic Baby Kale & Baby Spinach with Sweet Pea Leaves and Wegmans Organic Farm & Orchard Cat Grass.

The affected use-by dates for the micro greens include Dec. 17 and 24, the date for the kale, spinach and sweet pea leaves is Dec. 20 and the “sold since” date for the cat grass is Oct. 25. 

The products were sold at various Wegmans supermarket stores across New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.

“We are voluntarily recalling these products because some of the soil they were grown in, supplied to Wegmans Organic Farm by bio365 of Ithaca, New York, tested positive for Salmonella by the supplier,” the FDA said in a notice. “This is out of an abundance of caution. No illnesses have been associated with this recall.”

Wegmans is placing automated phone calls to alert the customers who purchased the food using Shoppers Club cards.

Those who made the purchases should return the products to the service desk for a full refund.

Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and people with weakened immune systems. 

Healthy persons infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. 

In rare cases, infection can lead to the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses – like arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis.