Amid listeria outbreak, Southland company pulls its food from shelves

A Southland food company has yanked several of its premade food offerings from businesses across California and three other states after federal regulators found a strain of listeria on its equipment linked to an outbreak first identified last year that has sickened at least 10 people.

Fresh & Ready Foods, based in San Fernando, voluntarily recalled several of its premade sandwiches and protein snacks, including several varieties of ham and turkey sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, tuna pasta, and a street corn dipper snack. The items were sold under three brands: Fresh & Ready Foods, City Point Market Fresh Food to Go, and Fresh Take Crave Away.

The voluntarily recalled food was distributed between April 18 and 28 this year in California, Nevada, Arizona and Washington. It was to be sold in vending machines and other settings in hospitals, hotels, convenience stores and airports, and by airlines. The recalled items have “Use by” dates from April 22 through May 19.

The recall was prompted by a routine inspection this April at a Fresh & Ready facility where investigators found a strain of listeria monocytogenes on a piece of equipment, according to news releases by the company and federal officials. Fresh & Ready workers then removed the equipment and took other actions to remedy the issue, the company said in a statement.

The symptoms of a listeria infection include fever, muscle aches, fatigue, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and even seizures, according to the CDC. It can also include intestinal issues such as diarrhea and vomiting.

Listeria infections are especially serious for anyone who is pregnant, as a listeria infection during pregnancy can cause a patient to miscarry, deliver a stillbirth, or deliver the baby early. It can also cause a life-threatening infection for the newborn. Others who are at a higher danger should they develop a listeria infection are adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC.

The outbreak was originally identified in 2024 when officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started investigating a cluster of people sickened by listeria. They failed to procure enough evidence to identify the source of the outbreak.

When investigators found the listeria on the Fresh & Ready equipment this year, scientists at the FDA used whole genome sequencing analysis, which confirmed that the strain of listeria found at Fresh & Ready Foods matched the strain of listeria causing illnesses in the 2024 outbreak. This prompted officials to reopen their investigation.

No illnesses have been linked to the recalled food, and instead, Fresh & Ready pulled the items “as a precautionary measure to ensure the continued safety of our consumers,” the company said in a statement released Saturday.

In 2024, at least eight people were sickened by tainted products in California and another two in Nevada, according to the CDC.

State and local health officials interviewed six of the people who contracted listeria and found they’d been in the hospital before being sickened by the bacteria. Ready-to-eat foods made by Fresh & Ready Foods were served in at least three of the facilities where the hospitalized patients had been.

Anyone who bought food listed in the recall should immediately throw it away, the company said. Consumers can contact Fresh & Ready Foods at [email protected], or by calling (855) 424-8390 from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday to ask questions or request a full refund.