Starbucks is best known for coffee, caffeinated beverages and even their pastries. However, many Starbucks customers also consume the coffee shop's pre-packaged sandwiches.
Unfortunately, Starbucks' sandwiches have been recalled recently due to potential contamination of bacteria called listeria, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as reported by Time. The possibly listeria-contaminated Starbucks sandwiches provided to the company by Progressive Gourmet Inc. may have been sold in more than 200 Starbucks stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas on March 3 and 4.
"As soon as Starbucks was informed of this potential issue, the impacted product was removed from the 250 stores that potentially received it," the FDA explained in its notice. "The scope of this issue is limited to these stores." The Starbucks sandwiches which might have been contaminated with listeria were pre-packaged English muffins with cheese, egg and sausage.
A photo posted by Starbucks Coffee ☕ (@starbucks) on Feb 24, 2016 at 10:15am PST
A Starbucks spokesperson also spoke with NBC News to clear some issues on their sandwiches and the safety of consuming their other products. "The product itself has not tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes. No other products are affected because of this issue. We have not received any reports of illnesses to date."
Listeria infection can cause different symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue and loss of appetite which can last for one week, according to MedicineNet. However, some people develop more severe symptoms such as meningitis, stiff neck, headache, fever, confusion, reduced mental functioning, loss of balance, seizures, brain infections and brain abscess. Listeria can also cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, infection and newborn death for pregnant women.
Most people who acquire listeria infections are able to eliminate the bacteria spontaneously in one week. "However, those patients at increased risk, especially pregnant women, usually require immediate IV antibiotic treatment to prevent, halt, or slow the development of more severe disease," MedicineNet added. Starbucks made the right decision to immediately pull out their sandwiches for further investigation.
