COLUMBIA, SC (WLTX)- It's a bacteria you cant see or taste but foods that may have the listeria bacteria are being recalled.
Blue Bell ice cream and Sabro hummus recalled products for fear that they may contain listeria. Several deaths are already linked to the food.
Susan Fitapaldi says when she heard 30 thousand cases of Sabra hummus are being recalled, her first concern was for her family's health.
"My first thought was, I almost bought some of that hummus during my weekly shopping. I'm glad I didn't. Ee use that brand and we like it, it just makes you think."
She's not alone.
The hummus recall comes right after the listeria bacteria was found in bluebell ice cream products. Federal officials linked the bacteria to three deaths and five illnesses.
"You just have to be concerned about it. I don't know if there's anything you can do," Fitapaldi said. "I don't know if shopping locally or organically makes a difference. You would hope, and we try to buy our food locally, fresh, organic. But I just don't know."
Law professor Marie Boyd is an expert on food and drug law. She says contamination occurs in the way products are processed before hitting shelves.
"If you think about food production from beginning to end, from farm to table, there are points within that process where potential contamination can occur," she said.
In 2011 the Food Safety Modernization Act was passed. It is an effort to shift the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.
"More recently in the Food Safety Modernization Act there are also these control plans and processes," Boyd said. "Which really tries to identify, 'OK, are there parts within the food process where there may be a risk, and are there controls that can be put into place to control that risk?'"
Boyd says it's a risk that is gaining more attention as pressure is put on the FDA to keep food safe.
"We're at a point where I really think there's a lot of attention, that led to a change in the law," she said. "But also, how is that law going to be implemented by the FDA?"
In the meantime, shoppers can only stay informed.
