When a food recall is announced, most people do the obvious thing: they throw out the product. For most foodborne pathogens, that is sufficient. For Listeria monocytogenes, it is not.
Listeria is unusual among foodborne bacteria in one critical way: it can survive, grow, and even thrive at the temperatures inside a home refrigerator. Once a contaminated food product has been stored in your refrigerator — even briefly — the bacteria can transfer to shelves, drawers, containers, and other foods. Simply discarding the recalled product does not eliminate the risk.
