Pasta Meal Producer Involved in Ongoing Outbreak Finds Listeria in Another Ingredient: Spinach
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has issued a public health alert about Hello Fresh ready-to-heat meals produced by FreshRealm Inc., which contain spinach that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The announcement comes in the midst of a fatal foodborne illness outbreak involving FreshRealm prepared pasta meals sold under a variety of brand names, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said were made with L. monocytogenes-contaminated pasta supplied by Nate’s Fine Foods Inc.
FSIS announced on October 6 that FreshRealm had notified the agency that the spinach (an FDA-regulated product) used in its products distributed by Hello Fresh tested positive for L. monocytogenes—specifically, 10.1-ounce (oz.) containers of Hello Fresh Ready-Made Meals Cheesy Pulled Pork Pepper Pasta and Unstuffed Peppers With Ground Turkey. No reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products have been confirmed, but FSIS also expects additional affected products to be identified.
Since June, FreshRealm has been involved in an ongoing foodborne illness outbreak that has sickened 20 people in 15 states, resulting in 19 hospitalizations, four deaths, and one fetal loss. Producer California Ranch Food Company has also been implicated. FreshRealm and California Ranch Food Company both produced prepared pasta meals using linguine noodles contaminated with L. monocytogenes, which were supplied by a third party, Nate’s Fine Food Inc. Affected products were distributed under various brand names by Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Giant Eagle, Demers Food Group, and Albertsons, with the most recent product recall announcement issued by FDA on October 6. The last known onset of illness occurred on September 11, 2025.
At present, FDA has not made an announcement related to FreshRealm’s detection of L. monocytogenes-contaminated spinach, nor alerted the public about Hello Fresh or other potentially implicated meals. Although FreshRealm is a commonality in both incidents, the foodborne illness outbreak involving contaminated linguine and the public health alert related to contaminated spinach have not been associated with each other by any federal public health or food safety agencies.
Update, October 9, 2025: FreshRealm has notified FSIS that the riced cauliflower used in certain products have tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes. The following products are subject to the USDA-FSIS public health alert: 13.05-oz. plastic tray packages labeled "DISH by Blue Apron Cheesy Chicken Mac with Vegetables," sold by Blue Apron, and 10.5-oz. packages labeled “BALANCE by Marley Spoon BBQ Sauce Beef Meatballs with Cheesy Cauliflower,” sold by Marley Spoon.
Update, February 13, 2026: The outbreak has been declared over with seven deaths.
Looking for quick answers on food safety topics?
Try Ask FSM, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask FSM →
