Read This If You've Recently Purchased Salad From Aldi

While Aldi is one of our favorite supermarkets, they do have a few flaws, and one area in which they tend to be a bit under par is in their produce section. Aldi shoppers report that their fruits and vegetables aren't always the freshest, and these products also have an unpleasant tendency to spoil shortly after they are purchased (if not before). 

While Aldi has been taking steps to correct this issue, sadly, they've just been hit with a more serious produce-related issue. According to safety alerts issued on Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, consumers have been advised not to eat any Little Salad Bar brand garden salad that was purchased at an Aldi store in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, or Missouri. The reason? This salad has been linked to a multi-state outbreak of a type of food-borne infection called Cyclospora.

While cyclosporiasis is not a life-threatening disease, it can be painful and extremely unpleasant and there is always the possibility of its endangering anyone in a weakened state. The CDC notes that 16 of the 76 people who may have been infected due to eating tainted salad had symptoms so severe that they required hospitalization, although no fatalities have been reported. According to the CDC, the most typical symptom is watery diarrhea that can persist for several weeks if not treated, although other symptoms may include fatigue, weight loss, and nausea.

Aldi isn't the only grocer linked to the suspect salads — the CDC reports that both Hy-Vee Brand Garden Salad and Jewel-Osco Signature Farms Garden Salad sold in those same midwestern states are also likely sources of a Cyclospora outbreak that has so far affected six states. To date, the FDA reports 76 cases of Cyclospora among people reporting eating one of these three brands of bagged salad, all of them residing in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska. Should you have purchased one of these bagged salads, it's recommended that you throw it out immediately, even if you've already eaten some of it and haven't gotten sick. It is just a cheap salad, after all, and your health is far too valuable to take any risks with.