I do not want to give an alarm to anyone, but it definitely feels that there is plenty of listeria in the food outside. Certainly there should be more than there, which will be ideally, no one. If you are not tracking in July 2024, then only more than 7 million pounds of livervors and Pork Listeria was remembered for contamination. 59 people were hospitalized and 10 died due to contamination, ending the virginia feature in which meat was produced, and permanent dissection of livervores from the head of the bore.
It did not end there. In October 2024, About 12 million pounds of meat and poultry products of about 12 million pounds The products tested by the Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) of the Department of Agriculture came back positive to Listeria manufactured by Brucepack. This included products Rana Pasta Food Kit, Trader Joe Chicken Salad and Raps, and frozen Boston Bazaar Food, as well as things prepared In schoolsOn October 19, Treehouse Foods announced Remember voluntary of many frozen waffle brandsCodiaq and great values on Listeria’s concerns. And not after a long time, On 25 October, Acme Smood Fish Corp CostCo informed Shoppers The Kirkland Signature Smood Salman was being called back due to potential listeria contamination.
Listeria concerns continued in 2025, with Remember about 2 million baked goods , Involved Some donuts and coffee rolls sold in Dunkin and pastries sold under private labels were declared in early February. As a statement From Baked Goods’ manufacturer FGF brands, voluntary recall was a precautionary remedy and “no donuts or food contact surfaces ever conducted a positive test for listeria.”
Listeria is a bacterial disease, with symptoms such as fever, nausea and muscle pain. But looking at the symptoms of that listeria It may take weeks to appearAnd can be fatal (especially for pregnant people, children and the elderly), it is clearly disturbed to affect the popular chain such as almost every major grocery series with a series of dunkin. What is happening?
What is the reason for Listeria?
Listeria is often spread through contaminated soil and animal feces, so foods that historically have a high risk of listeria contamination are foods that can come in contact with animals or dirt – raw vegetables, Unpublished milk, soft cheese, and daily meat (this is why pregnant people are often advised to avoid them). According to FDAListeria “is generally transmitted when food is cut, processed, packed, transported or stored in contaminated environment l. Monocytozens. ,
Listeria also increases at low temperatures. “If you keep something at 40 degrees or more, Listeria has just a great time,” says JD Hanson, Director of Policy. Food security centerThis means that it can be difficult to get rid of it, given that most of the factory that processes meat, dairy and yield are kept at cold temperatures.
Why have there been so many listeria-linked recall recently?
There are some infrastructural issues that have been making listeria more than a problem in recent years. In 2019Catherine Donley, Author Artisan cheese ending the war on cheese, Since 1949, the FDA needs to agitate everything for 60 days. It is good for things like cakes, which become more acidic as age, resulting in killing pathogens, but when it comes to soft things, which should not necessarily be old, “if any The type of post-process is contamination. From Listeria, it is going to be really at high levels in those products.
But Listeria is also visible in places that have not usually seen in decades, such as Fruit And ice creamThis is because our food supply is rapidly composed of prep made items that lends inside Cold house“While we look at a growing consumer dependence on prepared-to-eating and convenient foods, we are also seeing the rate of listeria contamination and increase in risk,” Darin DetwillerA Food Safety Advisor and Author who teaches at the Northeast University. “Most of these products often have a long shelf life, which gives more time to listeria, even if the level of initial contamination is low.” Hanson noted that this risk extends to the house, as Americans have a tendency to buy bulk and keep prolonged refrigerated or frozen things. Now something sits, whether on the shelves of the grocery store or in your home, more listeria may increase.
Another issue, however, is the oversite. Both FDA and USDA are responsible To ensure that our food is safe; The USDA oversees the production of meat and eggs, but the FDA is in charge of all processed and packed foods. For example, the USDA was responsible for inspecting the head plant of Boer, while the FDA would oversee inspection for products such as frozen wafles. Hanson says that on the one hand, the Food Safety Modernization Act, which was signed in the law under President Obama, gave some real equipment to stop the Food and Drug Administration. [risky] Operations, so I think there is more tendency to report things as soon as you know the FDA. ,
But during Trump’s presidential post, administration Removed several parts of the food systemTo speed up production and allow OSHA not to track Covid cases. FDA enforcement fell significantlyAnd other holes of the system did not let the contaminated food not be noticed. About lead contamination in apples, new York Times Informed She “repeated, tainted cinnamon became unpublished and ignored, a consequence of an overseasted FDA and a food-security law that gives companies, home and abroad, which to see and test toxins and what to test, Wide latitude on. ” There is not enough tests to catch these outbreaks, including Listeria.
Currently, the USDA Inspector General is also investigating the handling of the agency’s head of boar. The hill report Even though the USDA warned that there was a “adjacent threat” for public safety in 2022, federal regulators did nothing.
“The USDA actually did not take any action – the Boer’s head allowed to continue trading as usual at its chronological Virginia plant – despite repeatedly discovering serious violations,” Sen Richard BluMental said“Virginia plant should be closed years ago, before people became ill or died of Listeria.”
How do I survive Listeria?
So what to do if you do not want to get listeria but food needs to live? According to Hanson, a solution may be to do local shopping, and can avoid large drums. “If you go to France, [they’re not as] Concerned about Listeria in soft things. This is just a problem if you keep soft things around for a long time, and they eat them fast, ”Hanson says. As Detwiller said, an increased dependence on frozen and pre-east foods puts people at high risk.
But mostly, it is a government enforcement issue, and where resources are allocated, it is a case. “We need to get more resources to inspect the food and drug administration immediately and take more resources to take necessary legal action,” Hanson says. “Food and drug administration of all parts of the food system is funded at least well for its job.” So if there is a safe, healthy population that does not have to worry about food -borne disease, then it is important to the government, it can invest its money where it has a mouth.
Update, February 10, 2025, 10:40 AM: This article was updated to include information about a recall on baked goods sold on dunkin.
