
At least 10 people sickened in US listeria outbreak linked to prepared foods
SAN FERNANDO, Calif. (AP) — At least 10 people in the U.S. have been sickened in a listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat food products, and a producer is voluntarily recalling several products, federal officials said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Saturday that federal, state and local officials are investigating the outbreak linked to foods produced by Fresh & Ready Foods LLC of San Fernando, California. The FDA says the 10 people who fell ill were in California and Nevada, and required hospitalization.
The agency said the products were sold in Arizona, California, Nevada and Washington at locations including retailers and food service points of sale, including hospitals, hotels, convenience stores, airports and by airlines. Listeria symptoms usually start within two weeks of eating contaminated food. Mild cases can include fever, muscle aches, nausea, tiredness, vomiting and diarrhea, while more severe symptoms may include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions.
Federal officials said they started investigating the recent outbreak last year but didn't have enough evidence to identify a source of the infections. They said the investigation was reopened in April when FDA investigators found listeria in samples collected from Fresh & Ready Foods that matched the strain from the outbreak.
The FDA found that six of the 10 people who got sick had been hospitalized before becoming ill with listeria. The FDA found that items made by Fresh & Ready Foods had been served in at least three of the health care facilities where the patients had been previously treated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the test samples from sick patients were collected from December 2023 to September 2024.
Fresh & Ready voluntarily recalled several products, which can be identified by 'use by' dates ranging from April 22 to May 19 of this year under the brand names Fresh & Ready Foods, City Point Market Fresh Food to Go and Fresh Take Crave Away.
A message seeking comment from Fresh & Ready Foods was left Sunday.

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The program, dubbed Georgia Pathways, had a backlog of more than 16,000 applications 14 months after its July 2023 launch, according to a renewal application Georgia submitted to the Trump administration in April. 'The data on the Pathways program speaks for itself,' said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, an advocacy group that has called for a broader expansion of Medicaid without work requirements. 'There are just so many hurdles at every step of the way that it's just a really difficult program for people to enroll in and then to stay enrolled in too.' Georgia's rules A tax and spending bill backed by President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers that passed the U.S. House in May would require many able-bodied Medicaid enrollees under 65 to show that they work, volunteer or go to school. The bill is now in the Senate, where Republicans want significant changes. Pathways requires beneficiaries to perform 80 hours a month of work, volunteer activity, schooling or vocational rehabilitation. It's the only Medicaid program in the nation with a work requirement. But Georgia recently stopped checking each month whether beneficiaries were meeting the mandate. Colbert and other advocates view that as evidence that state staff was overburdened with reviewing proof-of-work documents. Fiona Roberts, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Health, said Gov. Brian Kemp has mandated that state agencies 'continually seek ways to make government more efficient and accessible.' Georgia's governor defends Pathways The governor's office defended the enrollment numbers. Kemp spokesman Garrison Douglas said the early projections for Pathways were made in 2019, when the state had a much larger pool of uninsured residents who could qualify for the program. 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Arkansas is among at least 10 states pursuing work requirements for their Medicaid programs separate from the effort in Congress. Republican state Sen. Missy Irvin said Arkansas' new initiative aims to understand who the beneficiaries are and what challenges they face. 'We want you to be able to take care of yourself and your family, your loved ones and everybody else,' Irvin said. 'How can we help you? Being a successful individual is a healthy individual.' ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed to this report.