Food & Party

Remember that Trader Joe's recall we told you about two days ago for food containing chopped onions? Well, the onion Listeria outbreak may have spread beyond Trader Joe's shelves. Gill's Onions has expanded its recall to food products sold at several different grocery stores in 12 different states plus a couple Canadian provinces. Yikes!

Gills says it's just a "precautionary measure." Yeah. The kind of precautionary measure that affects over 100 different prepared food products! Do you even have time to examine that full list to see if you've got Listeria lingering in your refrigerator or store shelves?

This thing is so crazy and widespread it's almost hopeless trying to track it all, but it's still worth a try. If you've bought groceries from Publix, Trader Joe's, Wegmans, or Whole Foods lately and you're in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, or Washington, you'll want to check out the FDA's huge list of affected products.

Man, am I ever glad I make my own salsa -- and do most of my own cooking from scratch, for that matter. As I looked down that long, scary list, I was just grateful that I don't usually buy prepared foods. I'll chop my own onions, thank you very much!

But everyone, even obsessive home cooks like me, buys prepared foods every once in a while. I keep getting a certain brand of chicken pot-stickers because my son loves them and they give me a break. So I don't get to feel too smug here. Food contamination can happen to just about anyone.

August 2 Update: There's more! 13 other companies are issuing voluntary recalls.

Do you suspect you may have some of the recalled food in your kitchen right now?

Image via ewige/Flickr