Don't Freak Out About The Fresh Express Recall Yet

Two people experienced an unfortunate surprise when they decided to make themselves a salad on Saturday. According to NPR, the pair in question discovered an unwelcome addition to their salad mix, which has Fresh Express issuing a precautionary recall. As it turns out, the two unlucky consumers reportedly found a dead bat in their Fresh Express Organic Marketside Spring Mix package after they had already eaten some of the leafy greens.

This is obviously a pretty concerning incident, however, before you decide to dump the product altogether in the future, you should know that the risk for widespread contamination in this popular supermarket product is actually pretty low. The good news is that if you've recently bought and eaten a Fresh Express product, you're family is probably safe.

The dead bat was reportedly found in a 5 oz. Organic Marketside Spring Mix product, prompting Fresh Express to order a recall of all salads manufactured in the same production run "out of an abundance of caution." According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the affected salads were only distributed to Walmart stores in the Southeastern region of the country.

If you've recently purchased a Fresh Express item from one of these locations, it's pretty simple to tell whether the salad mix in your fridge is part of the recall: The FDA stated that if your container has the production code G089B19, a best-if-used-by date of APR 14, 2017, and UPC code 6 8113132897 5, then the salad was made in the same production run as the contaminated product. Fresh Express did not immediately return Romper's request for comment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is assisting the Florida Department of Health and the FDA in investigating the claims made about the dead bat. The two people who reportedly found the bat in the Fresh Express package bought the item at a Florida grocery store. After their grim discovery, the animal was sent to the CDC rabies lab for testing due to the disease being endemic to bats across the United States. The CDC was not able to determine whether or not this particular bat carried rabies due to its deteriorated condition.

The CDC recommended the pair who discovered the bat undergo treatment for rabies as a precaution. They had already eaten some of the contaminated product before discovering the surprise ingredient, so the CDC of course wanted to play it safe. It should be said that the risk of rabies transmission is extremely low, though there's no way to guarantee the two couldn't contract the virus without testing. NPR reported that rabies is rarely contracted by humans, especially when the contact is made through consuming an infected animal. The couple has so far shown no signs of having contracted rabies.

The CDC stated that it hasn't yet heard of any similar cases concerning bat material in Fresh Express or other packaged salad products. The agency also believes that anybody who has eaten the recalled product and did not find any animal material in the product are not at risk. According to the FDA, Fresh Express believes this to be a singular incident.

In other words, your kids probably aren't consuming bat, and you very likely didn't pack any of the little critters in your lunch for work tomorrow. But regardless... maybe double check the product in your fridge — you know. Just in case.