Gingerbread houses trimmed with white icing and sold by Whole Foods should not be eaten.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials announced Tuesday that staph bacteria may have contaminated these pre-made cookie constructions and that Whole Foods will take them back and grant refunds.
“Generally folks use these as decoration,” said Susan Parachini, manager of the state health department unit that oversees food recalls. But children and others enticed by frosting and candy decorations may try to eat them, she said.
“Nobody should eat them,” she said. “Whole Foods will take them back. It’s not worth the risk. Just don’t do it.”
Whole Foods sold about 350 of the houses around the Rocky Mountain region, along with an undetermined number in 21 other states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin). Whole Foods officials have launched a recall, part of a larger recall of all products from a suburban Chicago supplier.
More than 100 illnesses have been reported from the broader recall of all the products. Though no illnesses associated directly with the gingerbread houses have been reported, officials are being cautious because they came from the same Chicago supplier.
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria releases toxins that cause can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea requiring treatment for dehydration and, for young children and the elderly, hospitalization.
State health department officials said anybody who purchased the assembled gingerbread houses from Whole Foods between Nov. 1 and Dec. 23 could be vulnerable.
Whole Foods managers in Denver and other Front Range stores removed houses that had not sold and posted warning signs.
It was not clear what caused the contamination, and Whole Foods global public relations coordinator Robin Rehfield declined to comment.
