Pasta meals from Trader Joe's and Walmart may be linked to a deadly listeria outbreak

"Public health authorities are urging people to throw away certain pre-cooked pasta meals sold at two popular retailers over concerns that they could be contaminated with listeria and connected to a worsening nationwide outbreak. The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) issued an alert late last week about two products with specific use-by dates in late September and early October: Marketside Linguine with Beef Meatballs & Marinara Sauce sold at Walmart, and Trader Joe's Cajun-style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettuccine Alfredo."

"In response to that investigation, the USDA says FreshRealm began testing the ingredients it uses to make its Marketside-brand meatball linguine dish. Last week, its pasta samples came back positive for listeria. Further genetic testing confirmed it was the same strain of listeria that was detected in FreshRealm's previously recalled chicken Alfredo meals, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday."

""It is also the same strain of Listeria that is linked to causing illnesses in this outbreak," the FDA says. The outbreak has killed four people and sickened at least 20, all but one of whom required hospitalization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It also sickened a pregnant mother, resulting in a fetal loss. The CDC says it has interviewed 13 of those people, seven of whom reported eating precooked meals before they g"

Public health authorities are urging consumers to discard certain pre-cooked pasta meals sold at Walmart and Trader Joe's due to potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination. The USDA identified Marketside Linguine with Beef Meatballs & Marinara Sauce and Trader Joe's Cajun-style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettuccine Alfredo with specified late-September and early-October use-by dates. Genetic testing tied positive pasta samples to the same strain implicated in an ongoing outbreak spanning 15 states. The outbreak has caused four deaths, at least 20 illnesses with nearly all patients hospitalized, and a fetal loss. FreshRealm conducted ingredient testing that produced positive results.

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