This check-in has more moving pieces than the last one. The frozen berry recall we've been tracking got bigger, not smaller. There's a new broccoli sprouts recall, two unrelated pork snack recalls over the same import problem, and two brand-new outbreak investigations where FDA knows people are sick but doesn't yet know what food is responsible — which means there's genuinely nothing actionable to buy or avoid yet on those last two, but I'd rather you hear "we're watching this" from me now than be surprised by it later.
UpdatedFrozen Berries — now two brands, 16+ states
The E. coli O145:H28 outbreak we first covered in Part 1 hasn't grown in illness count — still 17 people sick across Florida and Georgia, 6 hospitalized, no deaths — but the recall itself has expanded twice since then. A second brand has joined it: GreenWise Organic (Publix's store brand), both Whole Blueberries and Whole Mixed Berries in 10 oz. and 48 oz. packages, distributed to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. And Great Value Frozen Organic Triple Berry Blend (Walmart) — the one we already knew about — turns out to have gone to 16 states, not just wherever you happened to shop: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. Both brands trace back to the same source, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A. of Chile.
If you have either brand in your freezer — Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend or GreenWise Organic Blueberries/Mixed Berries — check the lot code and best-by date against the FDA notice linked below before you eat it, even if the illness count hasn't moved. A wider distribution list just means more freezers this could actually be sitting in, not that it got more dangerous.
UpdatedThe Lettuce Outbreak Is Over
This is the good news of the week: as of today, September 11, CDC has officially declared the Cyclospora/Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce outbreak over. FDA's own investigation stays open a bit longer — they'll keep doing onsite inspections and sampling at the growers and the processing facility in Mexico, coordinating with Mexican officials — but the illness side of this is done. The last confirmed tally was 11,458 illnesses across 20 states, 495 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths (both in Michigan), with health officials still finishing up interviews on a handful of already-reported cases as they closed the books. The recalled Taylor Farms de México product is long past its best-by dates and shouldn't be anywhere on a shelf at this point. This was the largest of the outbreaks we've tracked in this series — good to finally write "closed" next to it.
UpdatedJalapeños — still holding
No change here. The jalapeño Salmonella outbreak is still at 431 illnesses across 32 states, with no federal update since August 21.
NewBroccoli Sprouts — a fresh recall, covered separately
Evergreen Fresh Sprouts, LLC recalled broccoli sprouts this week after 22 illnesses across Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Washington. This one's big enough on its own — including a company history worth knowing — that I gave it its own post: Broccoli Sprouts Recalled After Salmonella Outbreak: What to Check in Your Fridge.
NewPork Cracklings — Twice, Same Root Cause
Two separate recalls this week, same underlying problem: pork products from Colombia, which isn't approved to export meat to the U.S. at all, so these never went through USDA inspection in the first place. El Eden Import Distributor Corp (Long Island City, NY) recalled about 264 pounds of "De Todito" brand mixed chips containing chicharrón (pork cracklings) — both the NATURAL and BBQ varieties, 45-gram foil bags — shipped to distributor and retail locations in New Jersey and Utah. FSIS caught it from a consumer complaint, not routine testing. Separately, East Coast Food Distributors, Inc. (Hudson, NH) recalled its own "De Todito" chicharrones line (BBQ, Natural, and Limón, in both 45-gram and 165-gram "para compartir" pouches) sold in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island — same country-of-origin problem, no USDA mark of inspection on the package. No illnesses have been reported for either one. The two recalls don't appear to be formally linked, but the fact that both distributors were separately sourcing the same "De Todito" branded product from Colombia is worth noting if you buy chicharrón or pork snack chips from smaller import brands — check for a USDA inspection mark before you assume any meat snack cleared the same bar packaged domestic products do.
NewTwo Outbreaks Where Investigators Don't Know the Food Yet
These two are genuinely new this week, and I want to be upfront that there's no specific product to check for either one yet — that's exactly what makes them worth a heads-up rather than a full write-up.
A second, unrelated Cyclospora outbreak is now under investigation — 231 illnesses and climbing, with no food source identified. I want to be very clear this is NOT the same outbreak as the Taylor Farms lettuce story above; FDA is tracking it as a completely separate cluster. It's an easy pair of headlines to mix up since they share a pathogen name, so if you see "another cyclospora outbreak" in the news this week, it's this one, not an update to the lettuce story.
A Salmonella Newport outbreak has sickened at least 109 people (up from 97 just a few days earlier), also with no source identified yet. Investigators are still working traceback on this one too.
I'll fold both of these into the "Big Three" (or Big Five, at this rate) once FDA names an actual product — right now there's nothing to check in your kitchen for either, just something worth knowing is being investigated.
ClosedTwo Older Ones, Wrapped Up
Two outbreaks FDA had open closed out this week, neither one connected to anything above. An E. coli O157:H7 outbreak tied to romaine lettuce was declared over as of July 29 — by the time investigators traced it to romaine, the product involved was already past shelf life, so there's nothing left to check for. And a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak tied to eggs has also ended, with FDA confirming the recalled eggs are past their expiration and no longer for sale. Both are here for the record, not because either needs any action from you.
↳ Continue to Part 5 for what's changed since.