Lettuce Recall

Smith's Iceberg Lettuce Recall Downgraded to Precautionary

SALT LAKE CITY — Seventy-one Smith's stores throughout five Western states were told Thursday afternoon to remove and destroy hundreds of heads of iceberg lettuce after the company received an urgent recall notice due to possible salmonella contamination.

However, by early Friday afternoon the recall had been downgraded from "urgent" to "precautionary and voluntary," according to Smith's Food and Drug spokeswoman Marsha Gilford.

Friday, when it was clarified that the actual source of the salmonella was not a Growers Express lettuce field but a nearby one owned by another company, the recall was downgraded to Class 2: voluntary and precautionary.

Gilford said that customers should be cautious, but not overly worried. "Our most important concern, of course, is the safety," she said.

To notify customers, Smith's had put up signs in its produce departments, made automated phone calls to customers with Smith's discount card information and printed out warnings on those people's receipts, she said.

Growers Express supplies lettuce and other produce to grocery stores nationwide.

The Smith's stores affected by the recalls are those served by its Layton distribution center. The company website also lists affected stores as those owned by Smith's parent company, Kroger, in North Carolina, Virginia, eastern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.