The FDA announced two new deaths this week in Hawaii and Oregon, and seven more illnesses.
Among the deaths is a fetus of a woman who was pregnant and became ill from listeria poisoning.
“We are seeing more and more Listeria cases lately, and it's not necessarily because food is less safe nowadays, but more because there are new and better detection technologies and while that's good for consumers, it also exposes gaps in process control,” Source86 CEO Eran Mizrahi told NTD.
Source86 is a global sourcing provider in the food industry.
Although the outbreak began in August 2024, the CDC further stated that the latest illnesses happened in September and as recently as Oct. 16.
Earlier this month, Giant Eagle voluntarily recalled its Smoked Mozzarella Penne Salad.
Last month, on Sept. 25, California-based pasta manufacturer Nate's Fine Foods voluntarily withdrew some 245,000 pounds of pre-cooked pasta products after testing linked its products to the same strain of listeria detected in chicken fettuccine Alfredo and meatball linguine products that were also recalled by FreshRealm of San Clemente, California, which employed genetic sequencing to confirm the connection to the larger outbreak.
"As a sourcing partner myself, I firmly believe that the best prevention for this is consistency: consistent cleaning, testing, and training," Mizrahi said. "Listeria and other bacteria are not just a one-time thing. It's everyday work."
The FDA describes Lm on its website as an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
Symptoms of listeriosis include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.
"When it comes to food, the consumer's safety is at stake, so we can't be anything other than vigilant," Mizrahi added.