Since June, FreshRealm has been involved in an ongoing, deadly foodborne illness outbreak, as the producer of prepared pasta meals that were made with Listeria monocytogenes-tainted pasta (supplied by Nate’s Fine Foods Inc.) and distributed nationwide under various brand names. Now, FreshRealm has alerted USDA that it detected L. monocytogenes in spinach used to make meals distributed by HelloFresh.
In August, an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O:157 (STEC) infections at Belgian long-term care facilities sickened more than 70 people, resulting in nine deaths. Raw ground beef is the probable vehicle of illness.
An ongoing outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to prepared pasta meals has expanded to 15 states, causing 20 illnesses, 19 hospitalizations, and four deaths. The meals were sold under various brand names at Walmart, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s stores.
FDA has introduced two resources designed to improve public access to information about concluded foodborne illness outbreak investigations: Executive Incident Summary (EIS) Abstracts and Foodborne Outbreak Overview of Data (FOOD) Reports for historic pathogen-commodity pairs.
A CDC analysis of multistate foodborne illness outbreak investigation data for 2023 reveals the foods and pathogens that caused the greatest number of outbreaks and illnesses. A single salmonellosis outbreak linked to cantaloupe accounted for 407 illnesses.
More than 300 patients infected by the outbreak strain of Salmonella Strathcona have been identified in 19 EU/EEA countries, the UK, the U.S., and Canada. Tomatoes from Italy are the vehicle of infection.
In France, 21 people have been sickened and two have died in a listeriosis outbreak linked to pasteurized milk cheeses produced by the Chavegrand company. Additionally, one person in Belgium has been infected with the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes.
To better understand the characteristics and contributing factors of Salmonella outbreaks linked to fish and fishery products, researchers from FDA and CDC reviewed multistate foodborne illness outbreak investigation records from 2012–2021.
A foodborne listeriosis outbreak in Ireland has sickened nine people and resulted in one death. Preliminary investigation results suggest the likely cause are ready-to-heat meals produced by Ballymaguire Foods, sold under a variety of brand names at major retailers. Recalls have been initiated in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
FDA and CDC have closed their investigation into a Listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat products produced by Fresh and Ready Foods of San Fernando, California, announcing that one of the ten people who fell ill has died.
