The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning the public not to consume Los Angeles Salad Company Baby Carrots. The carrots, labeled as Los Angeles Salad Company Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots, are imported from Mexico and may be contaminated with Shigella. There have been four confirmed illnesses associated with the consumption of the carrots.

The specifics

This product was sold in Costco stores in various parts of Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland. The product was packaged in 672 g/1.5 lb plastic bags bearing the numbers ITM 50325, UPC 8 31129 00137 7 with ‘Sell By’ dates up to and including 8 /13 /07. At this time, it is unclear whether or not the carrots were also sold in the United States. Costco Wholesale, Ottawa, Ontario, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.

What is Shigella?

According to the CFIA, food contaminated with Shigella may not look or smell spoiled. Shigella infection can cause diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, nausea, and vomiting. Illness usually lasts from four to 14 days. In some persons, especially very young, very old people and people with compromised immune systems, the diarrhea can be more severe. Infection can occur after eating and drinking food and water that is contaminated with Shigella and can be passed from person to person.

How can Shigella infections be treated?

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shigellosis (or Shigella) can usually be treated with antibiotics. The antibiotics commonly used for treatment are ampicillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (also known as Bactrim or Septra), nalidixic acid, or ciprofloxacin.

Appropriate treatment kills the Shigella bacteria that might be present in the patient's stools, and shortens the illness. Unfortunately, some Shigella bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics and using antibiotics to treat shigellosis can actually make the germs more resistant in the future.

Persons with mild infections will usually recover quickly without antibiotic treatment. Therefore, when many persons in a community are affected by shigellosis, antibiotics are sometimes used selectively to treat only the more severe cases. Antidiarrheal agents such as loperamide (Imodium) or diphenoxylate with atropine (Lomotil) are likely to make the illness worse and should be avoided.

Additional information

For additional information, call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday). For additional information on Shigella, visit www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/causee.shtml or www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/shigellosis_g.htm.