Food products that are sold to people in the United States should be safe to eat. Unfortunately, there are many ways that foods can become contaminated by viruses, bacteria, or other toxins that can cause harm to people. When outbreaks of foodborne illnesses occur, government organizations may require food product manufacturers to recall to ensure that unsafe foods are removed from the market. These types of recalls occur more frequently than most people realize, and one recent recall involved ready-to-eat chicken products manufactured by Tyson Foods that had been contaminated with listeria.

Millions of Pounds of Food Products Recalled From Stores and Institutions

After being notified of multiple cases of listeria infections in June of 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigated food products that may have caused these illnesses. Inspectors found the presence of listeria bacteria in a number of frozen, fully-cooked chicken products. Following this discovery, Tyson Foods, Inc. initiated a recall of a wide variety of these products.

In addition to products made available for retail sale, the recall also included foods provided to restaurants, hospitals, nursing facilities, schools, and other institutions. The products recalled included fully cooked chicken strips, boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced grilled chicken breasts, pulled white chicken, chicken wing sections, and fully cooked pizza with chicken. In addition to Tyson, brands of recalled products include Jet’s Pizza, Marco’s Pizza, Little Caesars, and Casey’s General Store. In total, nearly nine million pounds of food products produced between December 26, 2020 and April 13, 2021 were recalled.

There are a wide variety of pathogens that can lead to food poisoning. While most people are aware of the dangers of salmonella or E. coli, they may not know about listeria. Food poisoning cases involving this bacteria are less common, but they are often more serious, and an infection can result in severe illness or death. Recently, a significant number of listeria infections were linked to several different cheese products sold by the company El Abuelito, Inc.

Contaminated Cheese Products

Beginning in October of 2020 and continuing through March of 2021, multiple cases of listeria infections were reported across four states by people who had eaten Hispanic-style cheese products. As a result, El Abuelito, Inc. has recalled a number of products, including queso fresco cheeses with sell-by dates through March 28, 2021, quesillo and Oaxaca cheeses with sell-by dates through April 16, 2021, and requeson (ricotta) cheeses with sell-by dates through March 14, 2021. The recalled brands included:

• El Abuelito
• El Viejito
• El Sabrosito
• El Paisano
• Rio Lindo
• Rio Grande
• La Cima
• San Carlos
• Quesos Finos
• Ideal

In some cases, these products may have been repackaged at stores and sold without brand labels or under different brand names. Customers who purchased cheeses that may have been subject to a recall have been advised to throw them away or return them to the store.

Listeria outbreaks in the U.S. are rare compared to other forms of food poisoning, but food manufacturers and regulators take the potential of an outbreak seriously. For instance, Lipari Foods recently issued a voluntary recall of some of its pre-packaged sandwiches because they potentially contained listeria monocytogenes. The products included chicken salad and ham and cheese sandwiches under the Premo, Fresh Grab, and Lipari Old Tyme brand names. Lipari Foods distributed the sandwiches to retailers in 15 states, including Illinois. There were no reported illnesses connected to the recalled products as of the announcement of the recall on Oct. 8. A listeria infection, known as listeriosis, can be life-threatening, depending on the patient.

Those Most Vulnerable

Symptoms of listeriosis may appear as soon as a day after eating contaminated food or take weeks to develop. The severity of the symptoms depends on whether the infection has spread beyond the gut – known as invasive listeriosis – and may include:

• Fever
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Abdominal pain
• Muscle aches
• Stiff neck
• Loss of balance

Healthy adults rarely develop long-lasting illnesses from listeriosis, but the infection can be more serious for children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. Patients with invasive listeriosis often require hospitalization, and about one in five patients die according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Listeria is a relatively rare yet potentially fatal form of food poisoning caused by bacteria in food. On average, about one in six people who contract listeria die from the symptoms. Listeria is often associated with foods such as:

• Raw milk;
• Soft cheese;
• Deli meats;
• Raw hot dogs;
• Raw spouts; and
• Smoked seafood.

However, there have been multiple incidents in recent years when listeria has been found in frozen vegetable packages.

Recent Outbreaks

Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods recently recalled its Signature Select Avocado Chunks because of potential listeria contamination. The product was sold in nine different store brands in 15 states, mostly in the western half of the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control previously investigated a listeria outbreak that started in 2013 and forced CRC Frozen Foods to recall all of its organic and frozen vegetables and fruits. Nine people were hospitalized and three of them died, though only one person was believed to have died from listeria. In 2018, nine people in Europe died from a listeria outbreak that was traced to a frozen vegetable brand distributed in 107 countries.

Cheese manufacturer Sargento recalled seven of its varieties of packaged cheese amid concerns of Listeria contamination. No cases of illness have been reported in conjunction with the cheese. The company recalled its cheeses after a Listeria outbreak was discovered at one of its suppliers' manufacturing plants. Its Ultra Thin Sliced Longhorn Colby and its Chef Blends Shredded Taco and Nacho Cheese varieties were flagged as being potentially contaminated. To contain any potential outbreak, Sargento also voluntarily recalled five other varieties manufactured at the same facility: Sliced Pepper Jack, Sliced Colby Jack, Off the Block Shredded Fine Cut Cheddar Jack, Off the Block Shredded Fine Cut Colby Jack, and Chef Blends Shredded Taco Cheese. Other cheeses produced at this facility were sold as Meijer's store brand, Sara Lee, and Amish Classics products.

Consuming food products contaminated with listeria can cause listeriosis, a type of food poisoning that can cause nausea, headaches, and diarrhea. When it spreads to the nervous system, it can cause the victim to suffer from joint aches, convulsions, and a loss of balance.

How Does Listeria Develop in Dairy Products?