A listeria outbreak with deaths involves Walmart, Kroger and Trader Joe's

David J. Neal, Miami Herald on Sep 28, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Federal investigation of a listeria outbreak that traced back to chicken alfredo pasta meals sold at Walmart and Kroger has three more people sickened and another death, the FDA and CDC said.

And the USDA added a Trader Joe’s ready-to-eat chicken alfredo pasta dish to a public health alert Friday.

What chicken alfredo pasta dishes are involved in this?

The USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service issued a public health alert Thursday about a Walmart Marketside chicken alfredo ready-to-eat meal and added one from Trader Joe’s on Friday.

Marketside Linguine with Beef Meatballs & Marinara Sauce, best by dates of Sept. 22, 24, 25, 29, 30 and Oct. 1. The establishment number in the USDA inspection mark will be either 50784 or 47718. Those are, respectively, the San Clemente, California, and Indianapolis manufacturing centers for FreshRealm.

Trader Joe’s Cajun Style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettucine Alfredo, best by dates of Sept. 20, Sept. 24 and Sept. 27 and establishment number P-45288 in the USDA inspection mark.

For the dishes past their best by date, there’s always the concern they’re in consumers’ freezers.

“One of the producing companies collected samples of the FDA-regulated, pre-cooked pasta used as an ingredient in its product as part of the ongoing investigation related to the listeria outbreak linked to chicken fettuccine alfredo meals,” the USDA’s alert said. “The test confirmed that the linguine pasta was positive for (listeria) and further testing is ongoing to determine if the (listeria) is genetically related to the specific outbreak strain.”

Questions about the alert can be directed to Roseville, California’s Nate’s Fine Foods, 916-677-7303, from noon to 7 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Back in June, FreshRealm recalled chicken Marketside Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Fettucine and Kroger’s Home Chef Heat & Eat Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo in connection with the outbreak.

What’s the latest on the listeria outbreak?

Since the June update on the outbreak, the documented illnesses are up to 20 with 19 hospitalizations and four deaths. Because some people suffer through their listeria or salmonalla infections without receiving medical attention, the actual number of people sickened in those outbreaks usually is undercounted.

The most people documented are in Texas (three). California, Louisiana and Michigan have two each. States with one person are Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Utah and Virginia.

The deaths, one of which was a fetus, were in Texas, Illinois, Michigan, and Utah.

What’s listeria?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say listeria hits about 1,250 people in the United States annually and kills about 172.

Newborns and people over 65 are most likely to get the worst of listeria’s affects. Most people suffer muscle aches, headaches, balance problems, fatigue and high fevers. In pregnant women, the high fevers can result in stillbirths and miscarriages.

In this week’s Health and Human Services and FDA announcement concerning acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and generic versions, the agencies noted “high fevers in pregnant women can pose a risk to their children” and “acetaminophen is the only over the counter drug approved for treating fevers during pregnancy.”

They also admitted, “while an association between acetaminophen and neurological conditions (autism, ADHD) has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature.”

_____