Peaches, plums and nectarines from HMC Farms of Kingsburg, California, for sale in a Washington grocery store Sept. 2. The company voluntarily recalled all three of these products marked with stickers 4044 yellow peaches, 4378 yellow nectarines and 4040 black on Nov. 17 due to potential listeria contamination. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)
Peaches, plums and nectarines from HMC Farms of Kingsburg, California, for sale in a Washington grocery store Sept. 2. All three of these products marked with stickers 4044 yellow peaches, 4378 yellow nectarines and 4040 black plums were recalled by the Centers for Disease Control on Nov. 20 due to potential listeria contamination. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

HMC Farms, a vertically integrated stone fruit producer in Kingsburg, California, has voluntarily recalled peaches, plums and nectarines for potential listeria contamination, according to a Nov. 17 news release from the company posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

The recalled peaches have been tied to 11 listeriosis illnesses, the company said.

A Nov. 21 post on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website attributes one death to the recalled fruit.

The cause of contamination has not been determined, a company spokeswoman said in the release.

“They’re working around the clock … to investigate how the contamination happened,” said Amy Philpott. “So that is not clear at this point.”

Listeriosis is the sickness caused by the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium. Symptoms can include fever, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea in healthy individuals. The illness can be fatal in young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, and it can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.

The recalled fruit was sold in retail stores May 1–Nov. 15, 2022, and the same period this year in bags branded HMC Farms or Signature Farms with a 6359 sticker, according to the company. The recall also applies to individual fruit with a sticker that reads “USA-E-U” and the following numbers, according to an alert on the Centers for Disease Control website:

—Yellow peach: 4044 or 4038

—White peach: 4401

—Yellow nectarine: 4036 or 4378

—White nectarine: 3035

—Red plum: 4042

—Black plum: 4040

Peaches, plums and nectarines currently available for sale at retail stores are not included in this recall, but the company advises that consumers who may have previously frozen the recalled fruit should check their freezers.

The outbreak has affected people in seven states between August 2018 and August this year, according to the CDC. However, the company recall applies to only two years because those are the most likely to be represented in people’s freezers, Philpott said.

For product package images, visit the FDA announcement at: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/hmc-farms-voluntarily-recalls-whole-peaches-plums-and-nectarines-sold-retail-stores-2022-and-2023.

For questions, call the company’s consumer information desk at 844-483-3867 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

—by Ross Courtney