The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced an outbreak of listeria that’s tied to prepared pasta meals. According to the agency, 27 people have already been infected with a strain of listeria in 18 states, and unfortunately 6 have since died.
According to the CDC, listeria is a rare form of bacterial infection that affects people who eat contaminated food. Most of the time it can be prevented simply by ensuring food items are stored, cooled, and thawed correctly, but in some cases the issue is not created at home but rather through food delivery apps and restaurant dine-in options.
It’s believed that these cases are tied to brands that sell ready-to-eat pasta options that are currently being called back to their manufacturer. People reports that the chicken fettuccine alfredo manufactured by FreshRealm was found by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes in June.
FreshRealm went ahead to respond to the report a couple of months later by testing the ingredients of their products. They went on to find they were yet another major food producer that had contaminated food after Walmart’s mishap with their shrimp a few months back. One of the food establishments that was affected directly by this retesting was Nate’s Fine Foods in Roseville, California. It’s at this point that Nate’s Fine Foods issued a voluntary recall of 245,000 pounds of prepared pasta dishes.
The CDC has given advice that listeria’s symptoms include fever, flu, sometimes even seizures. Depending on the part of the body affected, the symptoms could reportedly vary drastically. And so does the treatment. What they do strongly advise is if you have fallen sick and have eaten pasta at some of the outlets issuing recalls, it’s best to get tested.
Furthermore, reportedly sometimes the symptoms from the illness take effect immediately, and there have been some reported cases that the bacterial infection started 10 weeks after they ingested the contaminated food. The people who are most at risk remain newborns, senior citizens, people with weak immune systems, and pregnant women.
Reportedly, one pregnant woman got infected with listeria and she ended up losing her unborn child. The CDC is currently asking people who have bought products from the named institutions to please return it at the earliest possible time. And if they have already ingested the food, it’s best to go for testing and completely follow the doctor’s orders.
Ultimately, this is a very sad situation, but watching all the different agencies coordinate to ensure a bad situation doesn’t get worse is somewhat consoling. It’s not too long ago that the CDC had to write Congress asking for the stop of harmful rhetoric that could come back to bite when they need to pass a sweeping informatory statement that crosses every political line. Health doesn’t recognize party lines, after all.
Reportedly, the 6 people who have lost their lives were from Illinois, Hawaii, Utah, Michigan, Oregon, and Texas. Hopefully, the situation is contained before more lives are lost.
