Food Poisoning in the News: Jamba Juice Strawberries - FindLaw

On December 4, 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) announced that Jamba Juice (San Francisco,CA) was notifying the public that smoothiescontaining strawberries sold at its Jamba Juice stores in Arizona,Southern Nevada, and Southern Californiabetween November 25 and December 1, 2006, may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria monocytogenesis an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in youngchildren, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems (theimmunocompromised). Healthy individualsmay suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache,stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Listeriainfection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Jamba Juice was first made aware of the contaminatedstrawberry when one of its suppliers, Cleugh's Frozen Foods of Salinas, CA, notifiedthe company that frozen strawberries from one of Cleugh's facilities testedpositive for Listeria monocytogenes.

Jamba Juice immediately and voluntarily halted all shipmentsfrom the location where Listeria wasfound, and removed all strawberries provided by the production facility,including berries not believed to be impacted.All stores that received shipments from the supplier's affected locationhave been cleaned and disinfected.

No confirmed illnesses have been reported by customers to either Jamba Juice's consumer help line or storemanagement, according to the FDA.

More information: FDA press release on the Jamba JuiceAlert.