Health officials are warning customers not to eat 25 products, including beef, pork, and poultry salads and wraps, over concerns of contaminated lettuce.
"If I hear about a recall, I’m not going to buy the item probably for a while," said Joy Tuman of San Luis Obispo.
The items were sold at Kroger, Trader Joe’s and Walgreens.
The lettuce in the products might be infested with the intestinal parasite, Cyclospora.
"After you’ve consumed the product, it can take up to seven days for you to experience symptoms," said Dr. Mira Yoon, Marian Regional Medical Center resident physician.
Symptoms, which can last from a few days to a month, include: "Watery diarrhea, abdominal cramping. You can get low-grade fevers as well," Dr. Yoon added.
It can be treated with antibiotics.
The salads and wraps in the warning were distributed by Caito Foods using lettuce supplied by Fresh Express.
The company has since posted this statement: "In its investigation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took several random samples of products and one sample, yielded a positive result for Cyclospora… As of now, there is no clear understanding about the contamination pathway or the definitive source of infection."
Last month, a separate Cyclospora outbreak was linked to salads sold at more than 3,000 McDonald’s restaurants.
Nearly 300 people became sick.
"I mean, it never makes me feel good when you hear about it. It always amazes me that it’s fresh vegetables," Tuman said.
All of the items in the recall have sell-by dates that expired in late July.
Below is a full list:
San Luis Obispo County Public Health confirms the last case of illness related to Cyclospora in the region was in 2014.
In Santa Barbara County, there was one case this year and three cases last year.
