E. Coli Found In Frozen Berries; Waukesha Shoppers Told To Check Freezer Immediately
Great Value and Trader Joe's berry blends sold locally are part of an expanded FDA recall tied to E. coli O145.
WAUKESHA — The Waukesha County Health Department issued an advisory Monday urging residents to check their freezers immediately after the FDA expanded a recall of frozen berry products linked to E. coli O145, including Great Value Organic Blueberries and Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend sold at the Sunset Drive Walmart Supercenter, and Trader Joe's Organic Mixed Berry Blend sold at the Barstow Street location.
The recall, traced to batches grown and packed by Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A., spans 33 states. Waukesha shoppers were flagged specifically because of local distribution records showing several hundred of the affected bags moved through the two stores between July and September.
"We're asking people to physically go look, not just try to remember what they bought," said Carol Essig, 54, a food safety officer with the health department. "Nobody remembers what they bought at Walmart in August. I don't remember what I bought at Walmart in August, and I work here."
The lot code problem
The recall identifies affected product by lot code printed on the back of the bag, a detail Essig said has generated most of the department's call volume so far. As of Tuesday afternoon, the department had fielded 61 calls, 9 of which were residents trying to read the lot code to a staffer over the phone, and 2 of which were residents asking whether a lot code on a bag of frozen peas counted.
"It does not count," Essig said. "If it does not say blueberry or berry blend anywhere on the package, we are not worried about it today."
Donna Prahl, 58, of the Hillcrest neighborhood, said she found two bags of the Great Value Triple Berry Blend in her chest freezer, buried under a 2024 Thanksgiving turkey she has not yet cooked and does not currently plan to. She checked the lot code against the FDA list three times before throwing the berries away.
"I was more confident the turkey was fine than the berries, and I genuinely don't know what that says about me," Prahl said.
What E. coli O145 actually does
E. coli O145 can cause severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting, typically within three to four days of exposure, according to the recall notice. The Waukesha County Health Department said it has not confirmed any local illnesses tied to the recalled berries as of Tuesday, though it is monitoring reports.
"If your smoothie habit has been unusually eventful lately, that's worth mentioning to your doctor. If it hasn't, you're probably fine, but check the bag anyway."
— Carol Essig, Waukesha County Health Department
Essig said the department's advice is simple: check any bag of frozen organic blueberries, triple berry blend or mixed berry blend currently in the freezer, compare the lot code to the FDA's published list, and throw out or return anything that matches. Residents who can no longer find the receipt should not assume the product is fine; both Walmart and Trader Joe's are accepting no-receipt returns on the affected items through the end of the month.
A quieter freezer inventory
The advisory has prompted at least a handful of residents to take fuller stock of what else has accumulated in their freezers over the years. Gary Puchalski, the Common Council member representing District 4, said he used the recall as an occasion to finally go through his own chest freezer and found, among other things, a bag of green beans dated 2021 and a single foil-wrapped item he could not identify by touch.
"I'm not throwing that one away until I know what it is," Puchalski said. "That feels like its own kind of risk."
The health department said residents with questions about specific lot codes can call its food safety line, which Essig said has been busy but "not county-fair-funnel-cake-line busy," a comparison she declined to elaborate on. The recalled products should be thrown away or returned, not donated, officials said, after at least one resident asked whether the recalled berries could still go to a food pantry.
"No," Essig said. "That was going to be my next sentence anyway, but no.