Listeria outbreak linked to pre-cooked pasta: Here’s what to know

Other precooked pasta dishes have been recalled due to possible links to a sprawling listeria outbreak that resulted in four deaths.

The outbreak, announced in June, led to a wave of recalls of ready-to-eat pasta dishes containing pasta from food supplier Nate’s Fine Foods, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Some meals were distributed by FreshRealm, a catering company. Others were sold in major supermarket chains.

Complicating matters, the Department of Agriculture said Monday that two other FreshRealm meals contained spinach potentially contaminated with listeria — but those meals had no connection to the ongoing outbreak.

Twenty cases of listeria have been reported in 15 states and 19 people have been hospitalized, according to the FDA. There were four deaths and one fetal loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases have been reported in 14 states: California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Here’s what you need to know about the outbreak.

What foods are affected?

In September, the FDA announced that Nate’s Fine Foods’ linguine had tested positive for the strain of listeria that caused the outbreak.

On September 25, Nate’s Fine Foods recalled several batches of its pre-cooked pastas. Five days later, the company expanded the recall to more precooked meals, including fettuccine, linguine and bow-tie pasta, the FDA said.

Nate’s Fine Foods sells to consumers but also to companies that use its ingredients in their prepared foods, including FreshRealm and several supermarket chains. So far, recalled pastas include:

• Trader Joe’s Cajun Style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettuccine Alfredo, 16 oz Plastic Tray Packages
• Demer Food Group Scott & Jon’s Shrimp Scampi with Linguini Bowls 9.6 oz

• Kroger Deli Bowtie and Penne Pasta Salads
• Giant Eagle Smoked Mozzarella Pasta Salad

A spokesperson for Nate’s Fine Foods referred NBC News to a statement on the company’s website, which read in part: “Out of an abundance of caution, we are voluntarily recalling certain products after being made aware of a potential link to a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak in several states.” »

Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University, said, “We don’t necessarily think of pasta and listeria as going hand in hand. However, once pasta is cooked and put into a meal, any ready-to-eat meal is at risk for listeria.”

And the spinach?

Separately, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service said Monday that two other FreshRealm meals under the HelloFresh label were affected by a frozen spinach recall: a 10.1-ounce serving of HelloFresh Ready Made Meals Cheesy Pulled Pork and Pepper Pasta and 10-ounce containers of HelloFresh Ready Made Meals Unstuffed Peppers with Ground Turkey.

A FreshRealm spokesperson said in a statement that the strain of listeria found in spinach was not linked to any outbreaks and that the company was not aware of any illnesses linked to spinach.

How did Listeria get into these products?

Listeria is found naturally in soil, animal meat, vegetables, fruits and raw materials. They can be introduced into food processing plants, where listeria can spread and cause contamination.

When listeria is introduced into processing plants, it can grow and form colonies. Listeria can form a biofilm, protecting it from disinfectants, making it more difficult to get rid of.

Ben Chapman, a food safety specialist and professor at North Carolina State University, said materials brought into processing facilities are a common contamination route.

Listeria is difficult to track and outbreaks are often not traceable to a single point.

What are the symptoms of a listeria infection?

Eating or drinking something contaminated with listeria bacteria can lead to an infection called listeriosis.

Once inside the body, listeria can grow in the intestine, causing gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea, stomach upset and vomiting, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms usually begin within a day of eating contaminated food and last for a few days. These listeria infections are often mild.

Invasive listeriosis – when listeria spreads to other parts of the body – can cause more serious illness. Listeria infection in the blood can lead to sepsis, which can be fatal. If listeria enters the brain or spinal cord, it can cause balance problems, difficulty moving on one side of the body, hearing loss, seizures, or death.

The most severe symptoms often appear within two weeks of eating contaminated food, but may not appear for up to two months, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Pregnant women, people over 65, and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of invasive listeriosis.

Why are listeria outbreaks so hard to track?

According to the CDC, the first recorded case in this outbreak was over a year ago, in August 2024. The most recent case was last month.

Because symptoms of listeria can take up to 10 weeks to appear after eating contaminated food, it can be difficult for experts to identify and track when cases occur and what is the cause.

People may not seek medical attention if their symptoms are not severe enough. (The CDC notes that for this and other foodborne illness outbreaks, the actual number of cases is likely higher than reported.)

Chapman said investigations can often take months or even years.

Finding Listeria in a manufacturing plant can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“If you think about thousands of square feet of food manufacturing facilities, trying to find where this bacteria has established itself, you’re probably looking at tens of thousands of little nooks and crannies that it could establish itself in,” he said.

Kowalcyk noted that food safety oversight in the United States has taken a hit as programs have been cut or receive insufficient funding.

“Things have gotten even worse over the last year,” she said.

“I predict we’ll see fewer outbreaks,” she said, “because if you don’t look for something or can’t look for something due to lack of resources, you don’t find it. »

She said that in the future, outbreaks would be much bigger because they could develop without anyone knowing.

“When we talk about outbreaks, we’re talking about the tip of the iceberg,” she said.