10 Listeria monocytogenes illnesses linked to ready-to-eat foods

100% OF PERSONS INTERVIEWED WERE ALREADY HOSPITALIZED BEFORE BECOMING INFECTED

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating an outbreak of ten Listeria monocytogenes infections that have been linked to a strain of the pathogen found recently by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in an environmental sample collected during a site inspection at Fresh & Ready Foods, LLC (San Fernando, CA).

The outbreak strain was first recovered from a patient in December 2023, and the most recent confirmed case dates back to September 2024. No cases have been reported in 2025.

The CDC investigated this outbreak in 2024. Epidemiological evidence revealed that the outbreak victims were in healthcare settings such as hospitals prior to becoming sick, and the likely source was a food served in those types of institutions. However, there was not enough information available to link the illnesses to a specific food or supplier.

The CDC reopened its investigation in April 2025, when it learned that the outbreak strain had been found during an FDA site inspection at Fresh & Ready Foods.

Outbreak victims range in age from 41 to 87 years, with a median age of 60. Nine of the ten victims were male. Eight of the ten victims lived in California; the other two resided in Nevada at the time they became ill.

Investigators from state and local public health agencies are interviewing outbreak victims to determine what foods they may have eaten in the weeks before becoming ill. Of the six people with information, all six (100%) were hospitalized before becoming sick. Records reviewed from facilities indicated that ready-to-eat foods made by Fresh & Ready Foods were served in at least three of the facilities.

The company has recalled more than 80 products bearing USE-BY dates from 4/22/2025 to 05/19/2025. The recalled products, which were sold under the brand names Fresh & Ready Foods, City Point Market Fresh Food to Go, and Fresh Take Crave Away, were distributed between 04/18/2025 and 04/28/2025 in vending and breakroom areas within corporate offices, medical buildings, and healthcare facilities located in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Washington. 

Fresh & Ready’s checkered history

Fresh & Ready Foods, LLC is under the joint jurisdiction of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (Establishment numbers M39892+P39892+V39892) and the FDA.

The FDA inspected the company’s San Fernando, CA, facility on seven occasions between 2009 and 2022. On six of the seven occasions, the operations were classified as either Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI) or Official Action Indicated (OAI).

No Warning Letter appears to have been issued in response to the 2017 (OAI) inspection.

2009: Voluntary Action Indicated

• Gloves used in food handling are not maintained in an intact, clean, and sanitary condition
• Sanitizing agents are unsafe under conditions of use
• Failure to hold ingredients in bulk or in suitable containers so as to protect against contamination.

2010: Voluntary Action Indicated

• Suitable outer garments are not worn that protect against contamination of food and food contact surfaces
• Your HACCP plan lists monitoring frequencies that do not ensure compliance with the critical limit
• Your HACCP plan includes a corrective action plan that is not in accordance with 21 CFR 123.7(b) to ensure affected producct is not entered into commerce
• Your verification procedures do not include, at a minimum, reassessment of the HACCP plan whenever modifications to the process are made
• Your records do not include the date and time of the activitiy the record reflects
• Your sanitation control records do not accurately document the conditions or practices observed at your firm

2011: No Action Indicated

2015: Voluntary Action Indicated

• You are not monitoring the sanitation conditions and practices with sufficient frequency to assure conformance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices including protection of food, food packaging material, and food contact surfaces from adulteration.

2017: Official Action Indicated

• You did not maintain your plant in a clean and sanitary condition and keep your plant in repair
• You did not implement the monitoring procedures listed in your HACCP plan
• Your HACCP plan does not list the food safety hazards that are reasonably likely to occur
• Your HACCP plan does not list one or more critical control points that are necessary for each of the identified food safety hazards

2018: Voluntary Action Indicated

• You did not implement the monitoring procedures listed in your HACCP plan
• You are not monitoring the sanitation conditions and practices with sufficient frequency to assure conformance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices including prevention of cross-contamination from insanitary objects

2022: Voluntary Action Indicated

• Your hazard analysis did not identify a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard that required a preventive control
• Your process controls procedures did not include appropriate parameters and maximum/minimum values
• Your HACCP plan does not list the food safety hazards that are reasonably likely to occur
• Your HACCP plan lists monitoring procedures and frequencies that do not ensure compliance with the critical limit

What you need to know

The joint investigation by the CDC, the FDA, and the USDA is ongoing. Here are the FDA’s recommendations for keeping yourself and your loved ones safe.

Recommendations

• Consumers, distributors, and foodservice customers, who purchased or received recalled Ready-to-Eat (RTE) foods manufactured by Fresh & Ready Foods, LLC, should not eat, sell, or serve these products. 
• Foodservice customers, retailers and consumers who purchased or received the recalled products, should carefully clean and sanitize any surfaces or containers that it touched. Follow FDA’s safe handling and cleaning advice to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Listeria can survive in refrigerated temperatures and can easily spread to other foods and surfaces.
• If you or your family member have symptoms of listeriosis you should contact your health care provider to report your symptoms and receive care.
   

Recommendations for At-Risk Groups

• Listeria is most likely to sicken pregnant women and newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems. Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill.
• Pregnant women typically experience only fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. However, Listeria infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.
• Call your healthcare provider right away if you have symptoms of a Listeria infection.

---

Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?

Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.