A California fruit company is recalling batches of fresh peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluots sold to wholesalers nationwide, due to possible contamination with Listeria.

Wawona Packing Co, based out of Cutler in Central California, said they are not aware of anyone getting sick from intake of their fruits, but they decided on the immediate voluntary recall as a precautionary measure.

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Wawona President Brent Smittcamp said they are in constant touch with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which conducted an internal testing of their fruits.

Smittcamp stated that the exact point at which their fruits got contaminated has not been established, but added that they had shipped the affected lots to retailers such as Trader Joe and Costco Wholesale from June 1 through July 12.

Costco has now pulled out the fruits from more than 450 stores nationwide. Other wholesalers and retailers are doing the same.

Wawona's website contains information on the affected fruits, and urges the public to discard any items that they may have bought from the retailers during the dates mentioned. Their consumers' hotline is 888-232-9912.

Listeria is a certain genus of bacteria that thrives in soil, water, and various food products and can be deadly to both children and the elderly.

Pregnant women who are infected with Listeria can transmit the organisms to their fetus or to their newborn. The bacteria can cause women who are pregnant to experience miscarriage or stillbirth.

People are exposed to Listeria bacteria if they eat or ingest contaminated food which has not been cooked, or fluid which is not pasteurized.

Symptoms of Listeria infection include muscle aches, loss of balance, high fever, headache, diarrhea, and nausea.

Listeria can be treated by amoxicillin or ampicillin together with gentamicin for two to four weeks. An alternative therapy comes in the form of intravenous co-trimoxazole.

Wawona has temporarily shut down its packing facility to undertake sanitation and disinfection procedures.

Tagslisteria, wawona listeria outbreak, fruit bacteria ca