India, Feb. 4 -- The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has elevated a nationwide recall of broccoli sold at Walmart to the highest risk level over potential listeria contamination. The recall, which was issued in late December, now stands at Class I - which is used in cases where there is a "reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death."

Braga Fresh, of Salinas, California, first issued an "advisory" for 5,918 cases of washed and ready-to-eat 12-ounce Marketside Broccoli Florets after Listeria monocytogenes were discovered in "multiple samples" from a Walmart store in Texas. However, the recall was elevated to Class I on January 27. While no illnesse...